This  book  is  DUE  on  tl 


SOUTHERN    BRANCH 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
LIBRARY. 

LOS   ANGELES.  CAL'F. 


Eije  ^catiemg  Classics 


HERBERT  SPENCER 

Philosophy  of  Style 


TOGETHER  WITH 

AN   ESSAY   ON   STYLE 

By   T.    H.   WRIGHT 
WITH  INTRODUCTION  AND  NOTES 

BY 

FRED  N.   SCOTT,  Ph.D. 

Professor  of  Rhetoeic  in  the  TJniveesity  of  MicnioAN 


SECOND  EDITION 


1917 
ALLYN    AND    BACON 

Boston  Ncfa)  gorit  Cfjtcaga 

^  28192 


COPTKIGHT,  1892, 

By  FRED   N.  SCOTT. 


Ttpographt  by  J.  S.  Gushing  &  Co.,  Boston. 
Presswobk  by  Berwick  &  Smith,  Boston. 


o  n 


PKEFACE. 


This  volume  may  be  considered  as  the  second  of  a  series, — 
Lewes's  '  Principles  of  Success  in  Literature '  being  the  first,  —  the 
object  of  which  is  to  bring  helpful  discussions  of  the  principles 
of  literary  criticism  within  the  reach  of  teachers  of  rhetoric.  As 
before,  the  plan  has  been  followed  of  providing  a  biographical 
and  critical  introduction,  an  index,  and  a  few  notes,  —  the  latter 
designed  to  provoke  discussion  or  to  furnish  clues  for  further  in- 
vestigation, rather  than  to  exhibit  in  their  totality  the  results  of 
the  editor's  researches. 

To  Spencer's  essay,  which  makes  iip  the  bulk  of  the  pamphlet, 
has  been  added,  as  a  commentary  upon  'The  Philosophy  of  Stj^le,' 
a  paper  by  T.  H.  Wright,  originally  published  in  Macmillan's 
Magazine,  Vol.  XXXVII.,  p.  78,  and  afterwards  reprinted  in  the 
Popular  Science  Monthly,  Vol.  XII.,  p.  340.  In  the  appendices 
will  be  found  a  note  from  Gurney's  'Power  of  Sound,'  criticising 
Spencer's  theory  of  the  effect  of  rhythmical  structure,  and  a  long 
extract  from  Spencer's  'First  Principles,'  touching  the  evolution 
of  literature.  These  will  prove  helpful  where  the  originals  cannot 
be  readily  consulted. 

In  the  belief  that  'The  Philosophy  of  Style'  can  be  understood' 
only  in  its  proper  connection  with  the  Spencerian  philosophy  as  a 
whole,  the  Introduction  has  been  made  largely  bibliographical. 
The   references  to  Spencer's  articles  in  magazines  will  in  some 
cases  supply  the  lack  of  books.     Articles  upon  Spencer's  life  and 

ill 


iv  Preface. 

personality  are  not  very  numerous.     The  best  biographical  sketch 

is  that  in  the  Popular  Science  Monthly,  Vol.  VIII.,  p.  620.     Briefer 

accounts  will  be  found  in  '  Men  of  the  Time,'  Brockhaus'  '  Conver- 

sations-Lexikon,'  and  the  recent  article  by  Mr.  W.  H.  Hudson,  in 

the   Arena   for   February,    1892.      Discussions   and  criticisms    of 

Spencer's  philosophical  views,  are,  on  the  other  hand,  exceedingly 

numerous.      A  favorable   estimate,   giving  a  brief  summary   of 

Spencer's  more  important  writings  down  to  1874,  is  available  in 

the  article  by  E.  L.  Youmans,  entitled  '  Herbert  Spencer  and  the 

Doctrine  of  Evolution,'  Popular  Science  Monthly,  Vol.  VI.,  p.  20. 

A  careful  outline  of  the  Spencerian  philosophy,  from  a  decidedly 

different  point  of  view,  is  given  by  Dr.  W.  T.  Harris  in  the  Journal 

of  Speculative  Philosophy,  Vol.  I.,  p.  6.     T.  H.  Green's  criticisms  in 

the  Contemporary  Magazine,  Vol.  XXXI.,  pp.  25  and  745,  Vol. 

XXXII.,  p.  82,  are  well  known.    The  best  induction  to  the  subject, 

barring  the  original  works,  is,  of  course,  John  Fiske's   'Cosmic 

Philosophy.' 

FRED  N.   SCOTT. 

Ann  Arbor,  February  9, 1892. 


PREFACE   TO   THE   SECOND   EDITION. 

A  SECOND  edition  gives  opportunity  for  correcting  a  few  typo- 
graphical errors,  and  for  inserting  a  few  references  that  have 
recently  come  to  my  attention.  I  take  advantage  of  this  preface 
to  add  to  the  list  of  critical  works  and  essays  the  recent  volume  by 
Professor  W.  H.  Hudson,  '  Introduction  to  the  Philosophy  of 
Herbert  Spencer'  (N.  Y. :  1894). 

FRED   N.   SCOTT. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGK 

Introduction vii 

SPENCER'S   PHILOSOPHY   OF  STYLE. 

Part  I.  —  Causes  of  Force  in  Language  which  Depend 
UPON  Economy  of  the  Mental  Energies. 

i.    The  Principle  of  Economy 1 

ii.    Economy  in  the  Use  of  Words 5 

iii.    The  Principle  of  Economy  applied  to  Sentences 9 

iv.  The  Principle  of  Economy  applied  to  Figures 21 

V.   Suggestion  as  a  Means  of  Economy 28 

vi.   The  Effect  of  Poetry  explained 30 

Part  II.  —  Causes  of  Force  in  Language  which  Depend 
UPON  Economy  of  the  Mental  Sensibilities. 

i.    The  Law  of  Mental  Exhaustion  and  Repair 36 

ii.    Explanation  of  Climax,  Antithesis,  and  Anticlimax 38 

iii.    Need  of  Variety 40 

iv.    The  Ideal  Writer 42 

WRIGHT'S   ESSAY   ON   STYLE. 

i.    R6sum6  of  Spencer's  Essay 45 

ii.    Style  the  Imperfect  Expression  of  the  Writer's  Personality. . .  49 

Appendix  A.  —  The  Sound-Element  in  Verse 61 

Appendix  B.  —  The  Evolution  of  Literature 64 

V 


INTRODUCTION. 


-o-oXXoo- 


LLFE   AND   WRITINGS. 

Herbert  Spencer's  life  may  be  divided  into  three 
periods:  his  boyhood  and  schooling,  his  experience  as  a 
practical  engineer,  the  years  that  he  has  spent  in  develop- 
ing his  system  of  philosophy.  The  first  period  comprises 
seventeen  years.  He  was  born  in  Derby,  England,  April 
27,  1820.  His  father  was  a  school-teacher,  a  man  of  con- 
siderable learning  and  much  force  of  character,  a  liberal  in 
both  politics  and  religion,  in  matters  of  education  inclined 
to  throw  emphasis  upon  the  value  of  observation  and  the 
study  of  the  sciences.  From  such  a  father,  and  later  from 
an  uncle  who  held  similar  views,  Herbert's  early  education, 
in  so  far  as  he  got  it  from  others,  was  mainly  received. 
Reputed  inattentive,  idle,  and  disobedient,  he  was  by  no 
means  a  model  scholar.  In  fact  he  did  not  learn  to  read 
until  seven  years  of  age.  It  is  noteworthy,  however,  that 
he  rebelled  only  against  learning  by  rote;  for  tasks  requir- 
ing originality  and  independent  investigation  his  mind 
showed  itself  umisually  capable.  During  these  early  years 
he  studied  drawing  and  mechanics,  made  collections  of 
insects,  read  a  little  ancient  history,  and  absorbed  a  good 
deal  of  science  and  politics  from  the  conversations  of  his 
father's  friends  at  meetings  of  the  Derby  Philosophical 
Society.  From  1833  to  1836  he  was  with  his  uncle,  the  Rev. 
Thomas  Spencer  of  Hinton,  nominally  preparing  for  one 
of  the  universities,  Init  in  reality  neglecting  Greek  and 
Latin  for  mathematics  and  mechanics.     At  his  own  wish, 

vii 


viii  Introduction. 

the  idea  of  a  iiiiiversity  career,  which  his  uncle  had  enter- 
tained for  him,  was  abandoned.  He  returned  home,  spent 
a  year  in  study,  and  seven  months,  not  unsuccessfully,  in 
teaching.  To  this  period  belongs  his  first  literary  work  — 
a  discussion  of  a  geometrical  theorem  published  in  the  Civil 
Engineer's  and  Architects  Journal. 

The  second  portion  of  Spencer's  life  begins  with  an  invi- 
tation, given  him  in  the  fall  of  1837,  to  go  to  London  as  a 
railroad  surveyor  and  draughtsman.  For  the  following  ten 
years  his  time  was  divided  between  practical  work  —  testing 
machinery,  designing,  and  constructing  —  and  miscellaneous 
reading  and  study.  While  secretary  to  the  chief  engineer 
of  the  Birmingham  and  Gloucester  Railroad  he  devised  a 
velocimeter  for  recording  the  speed  of  locomotives.  In 
1841,  refusing  a  proffered  engagement  as  engineer,  he  re- 
turned home  to  spend  two  years  in  scientific  studies.  An 
overflow  of  the  river  at  Derby  led  to  his  preparing  for 
the  town  council  a  detailed  report  upon  the  causes  of  the 
overflow,  with  proposals  for  a  remedy.  A  second  visit  to 
London  was  undertaken  with  a  view  to  securing  a  position 
with  some  literary  or  scientific  journal,  but  an  engineering 
job  was  taken  up  instead.  A  third  visit  was  made  in  1844 
with  like  results.  Then  came  a  depression  in  railroad 
enterprises  and  a  consequent  falling-off  in  the  demand  for 
young  engineers.  In  1846  Spencer  returned  home,  and 
although  some  time  for  the  next  two  years  was  devoted  to 
invention  and  problems  in  mechanics,  engineering  as  a  pro- 
fession was,  in  1848,  definitely  abandoned.  During  these 
ten  years  Spencer's  studies  had  laid  the  foundation  for  the 
development  of  his  philosophical  system.  Among  other 
scientific  works  he  had  taken  up  Lyell's  'Principles  of 
Geology,'  and  after  reading  the  author's  attack  upon  what 
was  then  known  as  Lamarck's  'Development-theory,'  had 
ranged  himself  upon  the  side  of  the  French  naturalist.  From 
this  year,  1839,  may  be  dated  the  beginning  of  Spencer's 


Life  and  Writings.  ix 

prolonged  effort  to  interpret  all  the  facts  of  nature  in  the 
light  of  the  central  principle,  evolution.  Other  studies 
occupying  his  leisure  hours  were  drawing,  botany,  social 
science,  and,  for  a  brief  space,  phrenology.  His  writings 
during  this  period  embrace  technical  articles  in  the  Civil 
Engineer's  Journal;  a  series  of  letters,  published  in  the 
Nonconformist  in  1842,  on  'The  Proper  Sphere  of  Govern- 
ment,' tending  to  show  that  the  government's  sole  function 
should  be  the  protection  of  life,  of  property -tenure,  and  of 
social  order;  and  miscellaneous  contributions  to  the  P7ii7o- 
sojyhical  Magazine  and  the  Zooist. 

A  third  period  may  be  said  to  begin  either  in  1846  when 
he  conceived,  or  in  1848  when  he  began  writing,  what  is 
properly  the  earliest  of  his  philosophical  works  — the  'Social 
Statics. '  Published  in  1850,  this  work  is  an  attempt  to 
account  for  the  social  organism  as  a  growing  adaptation  of 
men  to  their  environment.  Together  with  the  'Theory  of 
Population, '  published  in  the  Westminster  Review  in  1832, 
and  'The  Development  Hypothesis'  which  appeared  in  the 
Leader  the  same  year,  it  forms  a  remarkable  anticipation  of 
the  theory  which  Darwin  put  forth  nine  years  later.  Prom 
1848  to  1852  Spencer  was  connected  as  editorial  writer  with 
the  Economist,  a  London  journal.  The  essay  on  'The 
Philosophy  of  Style'  came  out  in  the  Westminster  Review  for 
October  of  the  latter  year.  In  the  same  magazine  appeared, 
the  following  year,  articles  on  '  Over-Legislation, '  uphold- 
ing the  theory  first  broached  in  the  Nonconformist;  and 
'The  Universal  Postulate,'  an  examination  of  Mill.  Three 
essays  came  from  Spencer's  pen  in  1854:  'The  Genesis  of 
Science,'  British  Quarterly  Revieio  for  July,  in  which 
Comte's  classification  of  the  sciences  is  attacked;  'The  Art 
of  Education,'  North  British  Review  for  May;  and  'Man- 
ners and  Fashion,'  Westminster  for  April.  In  August  he^ 
began  his  'Principles  of  Psychology.'  The  next  year  saw 
the  completion  of  this  book,  but  over-work  brought  on  a 


X  Introduction. 

nervous  break-down,  which  left  the  author  a  semi-invalid 
for  the  rest  of  his  life.  Nevertheless  the  stream  of  his  in- 
cessant activity  was  barely  interrupted.  Four  articles  by 
him  are  to  be  found  in  the  reviews  for  1857.  In  'Progress, 
its  Law  and  Cause, '  in  the  Westminster  Review,  the  idea  oi 
evolution  in  its  broad  application  to  all  physical,  biological, 
and  social  phenomena,  which  had  first  come  to  him  while 
writing  the  'Principles  of  Psychology,'  was  set  forth  at 
considerable  length.  'The  Origin  and  Function  of  Music,' 
appearing  in  Fraser's  Magazine  for  October,  aimed  to  ex' 
plain  the  nature  of  musical  expression  as  an  idealization  of 
the  cadences  of  emotional  speech.  Other  essays  were 
'Representative  Government,  What  is  it  good  for?'  West- 
minster for  October,  and  'Transcendental  Physiology,' 
National  Review  for  October.  During  the  next  three  years 
magazine  articles  appeared  at  intervals  of  a  few  months. 
'State  Tamperings  with  Money  and  Banks'  came  out  in 
January,  1858,  'Moral  Education'  in  the  British  Quarterly 
Review  for  April,  'The  Nebular  Hypothesis,'  a  defence  of 
the  theory,  in  the  Westminster  for  July,  and  a  review  of  Pro- 
fessor Owen's  'Archetype  and  Homologies  of  the  Vertebrate 
Skeleton  '  in  the  Medico-chirurgical  Review  for  October.  For 
1859  may  be  found,  'The  Laws  of  Organic  Form'  in  the 
Medico-chirurgical  Review  for  January,  'Physical  Educa- 
tion,'a  continuation  of  'Moral  Education,'  in  i\\Q  British 
Q?<arterZy  for  April,  'Morals  of  Trade'  in  Westminster  iov 
April,  'What  Knowledge  is  of  Most  Worth?'  in  the  West- 
minster for  July,  and  'Illogical  Geology'  in  the  Universal 
Revieiv  of  the  same  month.  Two  articles  appeared  in  Jan- 
uary of  the  following  year.  '  Social  Organism, '  in  the  West- 
minster, was  an  attempt  to  discover  in  the  growth  of  society 
the  same  principle  which  is  seen  to  determine  the  growth 
of  the  individual  organism.  The  other  essay  was  a  review 
of  Bain's  'The  Emotions  and  the  Will.'  To  the  same  year 
belong  'The  Physiology  of  Laughter,'  Macmillan's  Maga- 


Life  and  Writings.  xi 

zine,  'Parliamentary  Eeforms,  their  Dangers  and  Safe- 
guards,' Westminster  Review,  and  'Prison  Ethics,'  British 
Quarterly  Review  for  July. 

It  was  not  until  1858,  Avhile  writing  the  article  on  the  'Xeb- 
ular  Hypothesis, '  that  Spencer  came  to  understand  toward 
what  goal  his  mental  activity  was  tending.  At  that  time 
there  occurred  to  him  the  idea  of  a  system  of  philosophy  in 
which  evolution  should  figure  as  the  central  co-ordinating 
principle  for  the  interpretation  of  all  the  sciences.  The  de- 
velopment of  this  system  he  resolved  to  make  the  task  of  his 
remaining  years.  In  order  to  get  the  necessary  means  and 
leisure,  since  his  books  thus  far  published  had  been  a  source 
of  expense  rather  than  of  income,  he  at  first  applied  for  a 
position  under  government,  but  meeting  with  no  success  in 
that  direction,  determined  to  publish  the  work  on  subscrip- 
tion. Accordingly  a  prospectus  of  the  'System  of  Philoso- 
phy, '  to  comprise  treatises  on  Biology,  Psychology,  Sociology, 
and  Ethics,  was  issued  in  March,  1860,  and  the  first  install- 
ment of  the  series  sent  out  in  October.  The  initial  volume, 
entitled '  First  Principles, '  was  completed,  June,  1862.  From 
that  time  to  the  present  most  of  Spencer's  strength  has  been 
given  to  the  filling-in  of  the  outline  furnished  by  his  pro- 
spectus. The  'Principles  of  Biology'  appeared  in  1867,  a 
corrected  and  enlarged  edition  of  the  'Principles  of  Psy- 
chology '  in  1872.  For  the  'Principles  of  Sociology '  an 
immense  number  of  data  was  collected  through  the  aid  of 
readers  at  the  universities,  and  published  in  tabular  form 
in  a  series  of  eight  quartos,  entitled  'Descriptive  Sociology.' 
These  volumes  began  appearing  in  1873,  accompanied  by  a 
preliminary  work  on  the  'Study  of  Sociology.'  Of  the  main 
work,  the  first  part  appeared  in  1874,  the  remaining  vol- 
umes, 'Ceremonial  Institutions,'  'Political  Institutions,' 
and  'Ecclesiastic  Institutions,'  coming  out  at  intervals 
during  the  next  ten  years.  Parts  VII.  and  VIII.  of  Vol.  2, 
on  'Professional  Institutions,  and  'Industrial  Institutions,' 


xii  Introduction. 

and  the  whole  of  Vol.  3,  on  'Social  Progress/  are  yet 
unwritten.  In  the  third  main  department  of  his  system, 
*The  Principles  of  Morality,'  but  two  volumes  have  been 
issued,  the  'Data  of  Ethics'  (1879),  and  'Justice,'  which 
last  is  published  the  current  year. 

While  actively  engaged  upon  this  great  work,  Spencer 
has  continued  his  contributions  to  the  periodicals.  In  1864-5 
he  published  in  the  Reader,  articles  on  'What  is  Electric- 
ity?' 'Constitution  of  the  Sun,'  'Political  Fetichism,'  and 
'The  Collective  Wisdom.'  The  first  volume  of  the  Fort- 
nightly (1865)  contained  an  article  by  him  on  'Mill  vs. 
Hamilton.'  In  1867  he  contributed  an  essay  'On  Political 
Education '  to  E.  L.  Youman's  'Culture  Demanded  by 
Modern  Life.'  'Spontaneous  Generation  and  the  Hypothe- 
sis of  Physiological  Units '  appeared  in  the  first  volume  of 
Appleton's  Magazine  (1869),  and  was  republished  in  book 
form  the  following  year.  In  the  Fortnightly  for  May,  1870, 
and  December,  1871,  are  articles  on  'The  Origin  of  Animal 
Worship'  and  'Specialized  Administration.'  Other  essays 
in  English  periodicals  are  'Mr.  Martineau  on  Evolution,' 
Contemporary  Review  for  April,  1872, 'Replies  to  Criticisms  ' 
in  the  Fortnightly  for  November  and  December,  1873,  'Factors 
of  Organic  Evolution,'  Nineteenth  Century  for  April  and 
May,  1886,  'Origin  of  Music,'  Mind  for  October,  1890.  In 
this  country  the  Popular  Science  Monthly  has  been  active 
in  reprinting  Spencer's  articles  from  the  English  magazines, 
as  well  as  in  publishing  original  contributions  from  him. 
Among  these  papers  are  the  following:  'Punishing  a  Senior 
Wrangler'  (Vol.  5,  p.  144),  'Consciousness  under  Chloro- 
form '  (13:  694),  'The  Coming  Slavery  '  (24:  721),  'The  New 
Toryism'  (24:433),  'The  Great  Political  Superstition' 
(25:289),  'Retrogressive  Religion'  (25:451),  'Origin  of 
the  Synthetic  Philosophy'  (26:30),  'Last  Words  about 
Agnosticism'  (25:310),  'A  Rejoinder  to  M.  de  Laveleye ' 
(27:188),  'A  Counter  Criticism'  (33:  150),  'The  Ethics  of 


Life  and  Writings.  xiii 

Kant'  (33:464),  'Absolute  Political  Ethics'  (36:608), 
'Letters  on  the  Land  Question'  (36:334,  507).  Most  of 
Spencer's  writing  for  the  magazines  has  been  republished 
in  book  form,  either  as  integral  portions  of  the  'Synthetic 
Philosophy,'  or  as  volumes  of  miscellaneous  essays.  Among 
the  latter  are  'Illustrations  of  Universal  Progress,'  'Essays, 
Moral,  Political,  and  Esthetic,'  'Recent  Discussions  in 
Science,  Philosophy,  and  Morals,'  and  'The  Man  vs.  the 
State.'  The  following  essays,  not  previously  mentioned, 
are  to  be  found  in  these  collections:  —  'Use  and  Beauty,' 
'Gracefulness,'  'Sources  of  Architectural  Types,'  'Personal 
Beauty,'  '  Use  of  Anthropomorphism.'  In  the 'Eecent  Dis- 
cussions '  have  been  incorporated  two  essays,  'The  Classifi- 
cation of  the  Sciences'  and  'Reasons  for  Dissenting  from 
the  Philosophy  of  Comte,'  which  first  appeared  in  book 
form  in  1864. 

Besides  the  appearance  of  these  books  and  essays,  but 
two  events  have  marked  the  later  years  of  a  life  outwardly, 
at  least,  most  uneventful.  One  was  Mr.  Spencer's  brief 
visit  to  the  United  States  in  1882,  when,  unfortunately,  the 
state  of  his  health  debarred  him  from  personal  contact  with 
representative  men  and  institutions ;  the  other  his  election 
to  the  French  Academy  in  1883,  as  corresponding  member 
in  place  of  Emerson.  This  third  period  of  his  life  has 
thus  been  pre-eminently  that  of  the  scholar  and  writer.  It 
is  not  improbable  that,  under  other  physical  conditions,  he 
might  have  sought  outlet  for  his  practical  nature  in  public 
life  or  in  experimental  science.  But  the  necessity  of 
husbanding  his  energies  has  forbidden  arduous  labor  of 
either  kind.  Able  to  endure,  from  the  age  of  thirty-five, 
barely  three  working  hours  a  day,  Mr.  Spencer  has  been 
compelled  all  the  latter  portion  of  his  life,  in  science  to 
act  as  interpreter  of  other  men's  discoveries,  in  politics  to 
content  himself  with  those  tardy  changes  in  legislation 
which  have  come  from  the  slow  assimilation  of  his  ideas  by 
the  public  mind. 


xiv  Introduction. 

Mr.  Spencer's  contribution  to  the  history  of  thought, 
while  probably  smaller  than  many  of  his  followers  have 
claimed,  is  undoubtedly  very  great.  First,  and  most  im- 
portant of  all,  he  brought  home  to  the  British  mind,  by 
the  announcement  of  his  plan  of  work,  a  conception  of 
the  necessity  and  value  of  philosophic  interpretation.  He 
virtually  asserted,  in  his  prospectus,  that  all  knowledge  is 
one,  that  the  same  essential  jDrinciple  underlies  all  phe- 
nomena. This  was  to  be  expected  from  a  "Germanizing 
transcendentalist, "  and  from  such  a  thinker  would  have 
been  looked  upon  as  so  much  theorizing;  but  coming  from  a 
hard-headed  scientist,  an  engineer  and  student  of  biology, 
it  could  not  fail  to  produce  a  profound  impression.  To 
Spencer,  therefore,  must  be  credited,  in  very  large  part, 
the  awakening  of  the  philosophic  spirit  in  both  England 
and  America. 

In  the  second  place,  to  Spencer  more  perhaps  than  to  any 
other  Englishman  are  due  the  development,  the  application, 
and  the  popularizing  of  the  theory  of  evolution.  In  his 
essay  on  'Keasons  for  Dissenting  from  the  Philosophy  of 
Comte '  he  states  for  himself  the  part  this  idea  has  played 
in  the  formulation  of  his  philosophical  belief: 

"And  now  let  me  point  out  that  which  really  has  exer- 
cised a  profound  influence  over  my  course  of  thought.  The 
truth  which  Harvey's  embryological  inquiries  first  dimly 
indicated,  which  was  afterward  more  clearly  perceived  by 
Wolff,  and  which  was  put  into  a  definite  shape  by  Von  Baer 
—  the  truth  that  all  organic  development  is  a  change  from 
a  state  of  homogeneity  to  a  state  of  heterogeneity  —  this  it 
is  from  which  very  many  of  the  conclusions  which  I  now 
hold  have  indirectly  resulted.  In  'Social  Statics'  there  is 
everywhere  manifested  a  dominant  belief  in  the  evolution 
of  man  and  of  society.  There  is  also  manifested  the  belief 
that  this  evolution  is  in  both  cases  determined  by  the  inci- 
dence of  conditions  —  the  actions  of  circumstances.     And 


''The  PidlosopTiy  of  Style.'  xv 

there  is,  further,  in  the  section  above  referred  to,  a  recogni- 
tion of  the  fact  that  organic  and  social  evolutions  conform 
to  the  same  law.  Falling  amid  beliefs  in  evolutions  of 
various  orders,  everywhere  determined  by  natural  causes 
(beliefs  again  displayed  in  the  'Theory  of  Population'  and 
in  the  'Principles  of  Psychology '),  the  formula  of  Von 
Baer  acted  as  an  organizing  principle.  The  extension  of  it 
to  other  kinds  of  phenomena  than  those  of  individual  and 
social  organization  is  traceable  through  successive  stages. 
It  may  be  seen  in  the  last  paragraph  of  an  essay  on  'The 
Philosophy  of  Style,'  published  in  October,  1852;  again  in 
an  essay  on  'Manners  and  Fashion,'  published  in  April, 
18o4;  and  then  in  a  comparatively  advanced  form  in  au 
essay  on  'Progress:  its  Law  and  Cause,'  published  in  April, 
1857.  Afterward  there  came  the  recognition  of  the  need 
for  further  limitation  of  this  formula;  next  the  inquiry  into 
those  general  laws  of  force  from  which  this  universal  trans- 
formation necessarily  results ;  next  the  deduction  of  these 
from  the  ultimate  law  of  the  persistence  of  force ;  next  the 
perception  that  there  is  everywhere  a  process  of  Dissolution 
complementary  to  that  of  Evolution ;  and  finally,  the  deter- 
mination of  the  conditions  (specified  in  the  foregoing  essay) 
under  which  Evolution  and  Dissolution  respectively  occur." 


'THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  STYLE.' 

In  the  'Prospectus  '  distributed  in  18G0  is  announced  'The 
Principles  of  Sociology'  in  three  volumes.  The  third  vol- 
ume, containing  Parts  VII. -XI.,  was  to  embrace  the  follow- 
ing subjects :  —  Part  VII.,  Lingual  Progress,  "the  evolution 
of  Languages  regarded  as  a  psychological  progress  deter- 
mined by  social  conditions  ";  Part  VIII.,  Intellectual  Prog- 
ress, "treated  from  the  same  point  of  view:  including  the 
growth  of  classifications;  the  evolution  of  science  out  of 


xvi  Introduction. 

common  knowledge ;  the  advance  from  qualitative  to  quan- 
titative prevision,  from  the  indefinite  to  the  definite,  and 
from  the  concrete  to  the  abstract";  Part  IX.,  ^Esthetic 
Progress,  ''the  Fine  Arts  similarly  dealt  with:  tracing 
their  gradual  differentiation  from  primitive  institutions 
and  from  each  other,  their  increasing  varieties  of  develop- 
ment, and  their  advance  in  reality  of  expression  and  supe- 
riority of  aim";  Part  X.,  Moral  Progress,  "exhibiting  the 
genesis  of  the  slow  emotional  modifications  which  human 
nature  undergoes  in  its  adaptation  to  the  social  state"; 
Part  XI.,  The  Consensus,  "treating  of  the  necessary  inter- 
dependence of  structures  and  of  functions  in  each  type  of 
society,  and  in  the  successive  phases  of  social  develop- 
ment." Concerning  Part  IX.  a  footnote  says,  "Two 
papers  on  'The  Origin  and  Function  of  Music'  and  'The 
Philosophy  of  Style '  contain  some  ideas  to  be  embodied  in 
Part  IX. "  ^  From  these  data  we  may  infer  that  the  paper 
on  'The  Philosophy  of  Style'  was  regarded  by  Spencer  as 
a  fragment  of  a  treatise  on  Sociology,  and  that  in  it  litera- 
ture is  dealt  with  as  one  of  the  fine  arts,  being  considered 
a  psychological  phenomenon  determined  by  social  condi- 
tions. It  must  be  remembered,  however,  that  at  the  time 
the  essay  was  written,  the  main  outlines  of  the  system 
were  as  yet  somewhat  vague.  The  author  himself  did  not 
fully  appreciate  the  trend  of  his  own  utterances.  Conse- 
quently in  his  treatment  of  Style  he  does  not  make  much 
use  of  that  conception  of  the  social  organism  which  in  the 
completed  work  was  to  have  played  so  important  a  part. 
The  essay  remains  a  fragment,  not  to  be  rightly  understood 
until  it  is  inserted  in  the  place  which  the  author  intended 
it  should  occupy.  This  is  a  task  which,  let  us  hope,  Mr. 
Spencer  may  be  spared  to  accomplish;  meanwhile  it  may  be 

1  To  these  should  be  added  the  papers  that  appeared  later  on  *  Graceful- 
ness,' 'Use  and  Beauty,'  'The  Sources  of  Architectural  Types,'  'Personal 
Beauty'  and  the  recent  essay  on  'The  Origin  of  Music'  (Mind,  1890). 


''TJie  Principle  of  Economy.''  xvii 

permitted  the  present  writer  to  indicate,  very  briefly,  the 
line  of  treatment  which  seems  to  him  to  be  demanded  by 
the  nature  of  the  subject. 


♦THE  PRINCIPLE  OF  ECONOMY.' 

In   the  .opening   chapter   of  the   'Data  of  Ethics'   the 
author  writes: 

"  If  the  part  is  conceived  without  any  reference  to  the 
whole,  it  becomes  itself  a  whole  —  an  independent  entity ; 
and  its  relations  to  existence  in  general  are  misapprehended. 
Further,  the  size  of  the  part  as  compared  with  the  size  of 
the  whole  must  be  misapprehended  unless  the  whole  is  not 
only  recognized  as  including  it,  but  is  figured  in  its  total 
extent.  And  again,  the  position  which  the  part  occupies 
in  relation  to  other  parts  cannot  be  rightly  conceived  unless 
there  is  some  conception  of  the  whole  in  its  distribution  as 
well  as  in  its  amount.  Still  more  when  part  and  whole, 
instead  of  being  statically  related  only,  are  dynamically 
related,  must  there  be  a  general  understanding  of  the  whole 
before  the  part  can  be  understood.  .  .  .  Most  of  all,  how- 
ever, where  the  whole  is  organic  does  complete  comprehen- 
sion of  a  part  imply  extensive  comprehension  of  the  whole. 
Suppose  a  being  ignorant  of  the  human  body  to  find  a 
detached  arm.  If  not  misconceived  by  him  as  a  supposed 
whole,  instead  of  being  conceived  as  a  part,  still  its  rela- 
tion to  other  parts,  and  its  structure,  would  be  wholly  inex- 
plicable. .  .  .  Conduct  is  a  whole,  and,  in  a  sense,  it  is 
an  organic  whole  —  an  aggregate  of  inter-dependent  actions 
performed  by  an  organism.  That  division  or  aspect  of  con- 
duct with  which  ethics  deals  is  a  part  of  this  organic  whole 
—  a  part  having  its  components  inextricably  bound  up  with 
the  rest.  .  .  .  The  whole  of  which  ethics  forms  a  part  is 
the  whole  constituted  by  the  tlieory  of  conduct  in  general; 


xviii  Introduetion. 

and  this  whole  must  be  understood  before  the  part  can  be 
understood." 

What  is  true  of  conduct  is  quite  as  true  of  art  and  litera- 
ture. Just  as  without  the  conception  of  an  ethical  organ- 
ism, we  have  no  standard  for  the  ethical  evaluation  of 
conduct,  so  without  the  conception  of  an  aesthetic  or  a 
literary  organism,  we  can  have  no  standard  for  tlie  evalua- 
tion of  art  or  literature.  The  function  of  the  parts,  that  is, 
of  the  various  elements  and  devices  of  rhetoric  such,  as 
figures,  sentences,  paragraphs,  and  composition  generally, 
is  inexplicable,  or  misapprehended,  until  they  are  given 
their  proper  place  in  the  operation  of  the  whole.  Just 
what  this  whole,  this  organism  in  its  detailed  structure  and 
function,  is,  cannot  here  be  discussed  at  length.  It  is 
enough  to  say  that  as  the  content  of  ethics  embraces  all  con- 
duct in  which  there  is  adjustment  of  acts  to  ends,  so  the 
content  of  any  adequate  theory  of  style  must  embrace  all 
manner  of  expression  in  which  there  is  adjustment  of  utter- 
ance to  comprehension.  The  literary  organism,  therefore, 
if  we  carry  out  the  analogy,  will  be  the  whole  complex  of 
effective  expression  going  on  at  any  one  time,  the  value  of 
any  part  to  be  determined  by  the  work  which  that  part  per- 
forms in  the  service  of  the  whole. 

If  with  this  conception  in  mind  we  turn  now  to  Spencer's 
theory  of  economy  as  outlined  in  his  essay,  we  see  at  once 
the  desirability  of  giving  to  his  central  principle  an  inter- 
pretation much  wider  than  that  which  has  been  generally 
accepted.  As  commonly  conceived  from  a  reading  of  the 
essay,  the  principle  of  economy  is  in  brief  as  follows :  — 
Thought  cannot  be  conveyed  from  one  individual  to  another 
save  through  an  apparatus  of  symbols,  to  apprehend  which 
requires  some  mental  effort.  Whatever  energy,  therefore, 
can  be  saved  in  interpreting  the  symbols,  goes  to  the  appre- 
hension of  the  thought.  The  effectiveness  of  language  as 
a  bearer  of  thought  is  thus  measured  by  the  ease  with  which 


'  The  Principle  of  Economy.^  xix 

it  gives  up  its  contained  idea.^  In  other  words,  the  value 
of  style  is  determined  by  a  kind  of  ledger  account  in  which 
so  much  mental  energy  is  credited  to  idea,  so  much  debited 
to  the  bearer  of  the  idea.  All  that  is  saved  from  the  wages 
of  the  bearer  goes  to  swell  the  credit  account.  Or  to  put 
the  same  thing  in  still  another  way,  the  cheaper  the  cost 
of  transmission,  the  larger  the  bulk  of  freight.  The  prin- 
ciple is  an  exceedingly  simple  one  and  readily  applicable  to 
all  forms  of  expression;  but  a  little  reflection  will  show 
that,  taken  as  it  stands,  without  proper  reference  to  social 
conditions,  jt  not  only  furnishes  no  sure  standard  of  lit- 
erary evaluation,  but  may  even  be  at  times  positively 
misleading.  This  will  appear  from  the  following  consider- 
ations. There  are  two  kinds  of  economy :  first,  mere  sav- 
ing, the  laying  up  of  capital  by  isolated  individuals  without 
purpose  beyond  bare  accumulation;  second,  true  economy, 
which  consists  in  wise  expenditure  and  investment  of  all 
that  is  accumulated.  The  first  may  be  economy,  it  may  be 
miserliness,  or  it  may  be  dead  loss;  no  one  can  tell  which. 
So  long  as  the  individual  is  viewed  as  isolated,  no  standard 
can  be  applied.  Just  so  with  Spencer's  principle.  Consid- 
ering men  as  separate  individuals  whose  relation  one  to 
another  is  of  an  accidental  character,  one  cannot  say 
whether  the  language  they  use  is  economical  or  otherwise. 
What  seems  to  be  economy,  may  be  a  positive  waste  of 
breath.  To  take  an  example.  By  a  suitable  choice  of 
words  and  a  proper  arrangement  of  sentences,  a  demagogue 

1"  The  general  theory  set  forth  is,  that  effectiveness  of  style  depends  on 
a  choice  of  words  and  forms  of  sentence  offering  the  least  resistance  to 
thought  in  the  mind  of  the  reader  or  hearer  —  a  foreshadowing  of  the  gen- 
eral law  of  the  '  line  of  least  resistance '  as  applied  to  the  interpretation 
of  psychological  phenomena,  as  well  as  phenomena  in  general."  — '  Silencer 
and  Evolution,'  by  E.  L.  Youmans,  Pop.  Sri.  Mo.,  Vol.  (J,  p.  28.  But  the 
'  line  of  least  resistance,'  unless  it  means  the  path  of  a  part  performing  its 
function  in  the  service  of  the  whole  organism,  has  uo  normative  signifi- 
cance. 


XX  Introduction. 

may  'economize '  the  mental  energies  of  his  audience  to 
the  last  degree ;  and  yet  all  the  saving  that  he  effects  may, 
in  the  truest  sense,  be  considered  so  much  dead  loss. 

If,  however,  we  may  conceive  of  an  organism  —  an 
organic  whole — in  which  it  is  possible  for  each  individual 
to  perform  his  proper  function,  the  second  and  the  true  con- 
ception of  economy  becomes  not  only  possible  but  necessary. 
Each  man  then  economizes  to  the  utmost  only  when  he  sub- 
serves the  interest  of  the  whole.  True  economy  in  this 
case,  as  in  the  case  of  an  industrial  organization,  means 
perfect  division  of  labor,  intelligent  co-operation  and  free 
exchange  of  commodities.  Whether  any  given  expression 
is  an  example  of  economy  or  of  waste  must  be  determined 
by  inquiring  what  service  it  performs  in  maintaining  the 
integrity  of  the  organism,  that  is,  in  furthering  the  in- 
tellectual life  of  the  Avhole  community.  This  fundamen- 
tal principle,  once  established,  might  be  developed  in  its 
details  so  as  to  show  its  operation  in  every  possible  mode 
of  literary  expression.  It  could  be  applied  as  an  instru- 
ment of  criticism  and  interpretation  to  literature  of  any 
time  and  any  place.  And  it  would  seem  to  have  this 
advantage  over  any  theory  of  style  which  has  yet  been 
advanced :  it  would  be  based,  as  Mr.  Spencer  would  desire, 
upon  the  conception  of  an  organic  whole  made  up  of 
mutually  dependent  members,  not  upon  a  part  miscon- 
ceived as  a  whole,  nor  yet  (as  is  the  case  with  so  many 
critical  doctrines)  upon  dead  formulas  and  abstract  gener- 
alizations, gathered  indiscriminately  from  the  wreckage  of 
out-worn  theories.^ 

1  See  Bosanquet's  remarks  on  the  law  of  economy, '  History  of  ^Esthetic,' 
pp.  386-7. 


THE   PHILOSOPHY   OF  STYLE. 


PART  I. 


CAUSES  OF  FORCE  IN  LANGUAGE  WHICH  DEPEND  UPON 
ECONOMY   OF   THE   MENTAL   ENERGIES. 

i.    The  Principle  of  Economy. 

1.  Commenting  on  the  seeming  incongruity  between  his 
father's  argumentative  powers  and  his  ignorance  of  formal 
logic,  Tristram  Shandy  says: — "It  was  a  matter  of  just 
wonder  with  my  worthy  tutor,  and  two  or  three  fellows  of 
that  learned  society,  that  a  man  who  knew  not  so  much  as 
the  names  of  his  tools,  should  be  able  to  work  after  that 
fashion  with  them."  Sterne's  intended  implication  that  a 
knowledge  of  the  principles  of  reasoning  neither  makes, 
nor  is  essential  to,  a  good  reasoner,  is  doubtless  true.  Thus, 
too,  is  it  with  grammar.  As  Dr.  Latham,  condemning  the 
usual  school-drill  in  Lindley  Murray,  rightly  remarks :  — 
"  Gross  vulgarity  is  a  fault  to  be  prevented ;  but  the  proper 
prevention  is  to  be  got  from  habit  —  not  rules."  Similarly, 
there  can  be  little  question  that  good  composition  is  far 
less  dependent  upon  acquaintance  with  its  laws^  than  upon 
practice  and  natural  aptitude.  A  clear  head,  a  quick  imag- 
ination, and  a  sensitive  ear,  will  go  far  towards  making  all 
rhetorical  precepts  needless.  He  who  daily  hears  and  reads 
well-framed  sentences,  will  naturally  more  or  less  tend  to 
use   similar   ones.      And  where   tliere   exists   any   mental 


2  The  Philosophy  of  Style. 

idiosyncrasy  —  where  there  is  a  deficient  verbal  memory, 
or  an  inadequate  sense  of  logical  dependence,  or  but  little 
perception  of  order,  or  a  lack  of  constructive  ingenuity  ;  no 
amount  of  instruction  will  remedy  the  defect.  Neverthe- 
less, some  practical  result  may  be  expected  from  a  familiar- 
ity with  the  principles  of  style.  The  endeavour  to  conform 
to  laws  may  tell,  though  slowly.  And  if  in  no  other  way, 
yet,  as  facilitating  revision,  a  knowledge  of  the  thing  to  be 
achieved  —  a  clear  idea  of  what  constitutes  a  beauty,  and 
what  a  blemish  —  cannot  fail  to  be  of  service. 

2.  No  general  theory  of  expression  seems  yet  to  have 
been  enunciated.^  The  maxims  contained  in  works  on  com- 
position and  rhetoric,  are  presented  in  an  unorganized  form. 
Standing  as  isolated  dogmas  —  as  empirical  generalizations, 
they  are  neither  so  clearly  apprehended,  nor  so  much  re- 
spected, as  they  would  be  were  they  deduced  from  some 
simple  first  principle.  We  are  told  that  ^^  brevity  is  the 
soul  pf^wit."  We  hear  styles  condemned  as  verbose  or 
involved.  Blair  says  that  every  needless  part  of  a  sentence 
"  interrupts  the  description  and  clogs  the  image ; "  and 
again,  that  "  long  sentences  fatigue  the  reader's  attention."  ^ 
It  is  remarked  by  Lord  Kaimes,  that  "  to  give  the  utmost 
force  to  a  period,  it  ought,  if  possible,  to  be  closed  with  that 
word  which  makes  the  greatest  figure."  ^  That  parentheses 
should  be  avoided  and  that  Saxon  words  should  be  used  in 
preference  to  those  of  Latin  origin,  are  established  precepts. 
But,  however  influential  the  truths  thus  dogmatically  em- 
bodied, they  would  be  much  more  influential  if  reduced  to 
something  like  scientific  ordination.  In  this,  as  in  other 
cases,  conviction  will   be   greatly   strengthened   when   we 


1  That  is,  in  works  purporting  to  be  rhetorics.  General  theories  of 
literary  expression  had  been  put  forth  by  Goethe,  Schiller,  Schlegel, 
Schopenhauer,  Hegel,  Vischer,  and  many  other  writers  on  aesthetics. 

-  '  Lectures  on  Rhetoric  and  Belles  Lettres,'  Lect.  xi. 

8  'Elements  of  Criticism,'  Chap.  18,  §  2. 


Causes  of  Force  in  Language.  3 

understand  the  tvhy.  And  we  may  be  sure  that  a  compre- 
hension of  the  general  principle  from  which  the  rules  of 
composition  result,  will  not  only  bring  them  home  to  us 
with  greater  force,  but  will  discover  to  us  other  rules  of 
like  origin. 

3.  On  seeking  for  some  clue  to  the  law  underlying  these  current 
maxims,  we  may  see  shadowed  forth  in  many  of  them,  the  impor- 
tance of  economizing  the  reader's  or  hearer's  attention.  To  so 
present  ideas  that  they  may  be  apprehended  with  the  least  possible 
jiental  effort,  is  the  desideratum  towards  which  most  of  the  rules 
above  quoted  point.  When  we  condemn  writing  that  is  wordy,  or 
confused,  or  intricate  —  when  we  praise  this  style  as  easy,  and 
blame  that  as  fatiguing,  we  consciously  or  unconsciously  assume 
this  desideratum  as  our  standard  of  judgment.     Eegarding  language 

jis  an  apparatus  of  symbols  for  the  conveyance  of  thought,'  we  may 
say  that,  as  in  a  mechanical  apparatus,  the  more  simple  and  the  . 
better  arranged  its  parts,  the  greater  will  be  the  effect  produced.  / 
In  either  case,  whatever  force  is  absorbed  by  the  machine  is  deducted 
from  the  result.     A  reader  or  listener  has  at  each  moment  but  a     ^ 
limited  amount  of  mental  power  available.     To  recognize  and  inter-   '  "y 
pret  the  symbols  presented  to  him,  requires  part  of  this  power ;  to  [  ^y 
arrange  and  combine  the  images  suggested  requires  a  further  part ; 
and  only  that  part  which  remains  can  be  used  for  realizing  the 
thought  conveyed.     Hence,  the  more  time  and  attention  it  takes  to" 
receive  and  understand  each  sentence,  the  less  time  and  attention 
can  be  given  to  the  contained  idea ;  and  the  less  vividly  will  that^ 
idea  be  conceived. 

4.  How  truly  language  must  be  regarded  as  a  hindrance 
to  thought,  though  the  necessary  instrument  of  it,  we  shall 
clearly  perceive  on  remembering  the  comparative  force  with 

1  See  the  comment  made  by  Mr.  Wright,  infra,  §  13:  "The  definite 
product  language  is  more  or  less  isolated  from  the  agency  using  it,  and 
viewed  more  in  relation  to  the  reader's  than  the  writer's  mind."  A  brief 
criticism  of  the  general  principle  will  be  found  in  A.  S.  Hill's  '  Rhetoric,' 
pp.  163, 164, 


^ 


4  The  Philosophy  of  Style. 

which  simple  ideas  are  communicated  by  signs. ^  To  say, 
"  Leave  the  room,"  is  less  expressive  than  to  point  to  the 
door.  Placing  a  finger  on  the  lips  is  more  forcible  than 
whispering,  "  Do  not  speak.  "  A  beck  of  the  hand  is  better 
than,  "  Come  here. "  No  phrase  can  convey  the  idea  of  sur- 
prise so  vividly  as  opening  the  eyes  and  raising  the  eye- 
brows. A  shrug  of  the  shoulders  would  lose  much  by  trans- 
lation into  words.  Again,  it  may  be  remarked  that  when 
oral  language  is  employed,  the  strongest  effects  ^  are  pro- 
duced by  interjections,  which  condense  entire  sentences  intp 
^syllables.  And  in  other  cases,  where  custom  allows  us  to 
^express  thoughts  by  single  words,  as  in  Beware^  Heiglio, 
Fudge,  much  force  would  be  lost  by  expanding  them  into 
specific  propositions.  Hence,  carrying  out  the  metaphor 
that  language  is  the  vehicle  of  thought,  there  seems  reason 
to  think  that  in  all  cases  the  friction  and  inertia  of  the 
vehicle  deduct  from  its  efficiency ;  and  that  in  composition, 
the  chief,  if  not  the  sole  thing  to  be  done,  is,  to  reduce  this 
friction  and  inertia  to  the  smallest  possible  amount.  Let 
us  then  inquire  whether  economy  of  the  recipient's  attention 
is  not  the  secret  of  effect,  alike  in  the  right  choice  and  collo- 
cation of  words,  in  the  best  arrangement  of  clauses  in  a  sen- 
tence, in  the  proper  order  of  its  principal  and  subordinate 
propositions,  in  the  judicious  use  of  simile,  metaphor,  and 
other  figures  of  speech,  and  even  in  the  rhythmical  sequence 
of  syllables. 

1  This  ingenious  paradox  rests  upon  an  artificial  distinction  between 
language  and  other  modes  of  expression.  Language  itself  is  but  a  system 
of  verbal  signs.  What  Spencer  says  is  therefore  virtually  this :  "  Language 
is  an  inferior  form  of  expression  for  ideas  which  are  more  easily  expressed 
by  other  kinds  of  signs."  Language  in  one  sense  is  indeed  a  "hindrance 
to  the  expression  of  thought,"  and  properly  so;  it  forces  vague  and  ill- 
defined  tliouglit  back  upon  itself,  compelling  it  to  assume  the  organized 
form  requisite  to  ordered  verbal  expression. 

2  "Strongest  effects"  is  vague  to  the  last  degree.  There  may  be  hun- 
dreds of  strong  effects  of  all  shades  of  complexity;  very  obviously  not  all 
of  them  can  be  produced  by  interjections. 


; 


Causes  of  Force  in  Language. 

ii.    Economy  in  the  Use  of  Words. 

5.  The  greater  forcibleness  of  Saxon  English,  or  rather, 
non-Latin  English,  first  claims  our  attention.  The  several  J. 
special  reasons  assignable  for  this  may  all  be  reduced  to  the 
general  reason  —  economy.  The  most  important  of  them  is  i 
early  association.  A  child's  vocabulary  is  almost  wholly 
Saxon.  He  says,  I  have,  not  I  possess  —  I  wish,  not  I  desire; 
he  does  not  reflect,  he  thinks;  he  does  not  beg  for  amusement, 
but  iox  play ;  he  calls  things  nice  or  nasty,  not  pleasant  or  dis- 
agreeable.    The  s_ynonyms  which  he  learns  in  after  years, 

_never  become  so  closely,  so  organically  connected  with  the 

jdeas  signified,  as  do  these  original  words  used  in  childhood ; 
and  hence  the  association  remains  less  strong.  But  in  what 
does  a  strong  association  between  a  word  and  an  idea  differ 
from  a  weak  one  ?  Simply  in  the  greater  ease^and  rapidity  of 
the  suggestive  action.  It  can  be  in  nothing  else.  Both  of 
two  words,  if  they  be  strictly  synonymous,  eventually  call 
up  the  same  image.  The  expression  —  It  is  acid,  must  in 
the  end  give  rise  to  the  same  thought  as  — It  is  sour;  but 
because  the  term  acid  was  learnt  later  in  life,  and  has  not 
been  so  often  followed  by  the  thought  symbolized,  it  does 
not  so  readily  arouse  that  thought  as  the  term  sour.  If  we 
remember  how  slowly  and  with  what  labour  the  appropriate 
ideas  follow  unfamiliar  words  in  another  language,  and  how 
increasing  familiarity  with  such  words  brings  greater  rapid- 
ity and  ease  of  comprehension ;  and  if  we  consider  that  the 
same  process  must  have  gone  on  with  the  words  of  our 
mother  tongue  from  childhood  upwards,  we  shall  clearly  see 
that  the  earliest  learnt  and  oftenest  used  words,  will,  other 

Jthings   equal,   call  up  images  with  less  loss  of  time  and'''' 

^energy  than  their  later  learnt  synonyms. 

6.  The  further  si;i)eriority  ])Ossessed  by  Saxon  English 
in  jt^omparatiye  brevity,  obviously  comes  under  the  same 
generalization.     If  it  be  an  advantage  to  express  an  idea  in 


6  The  Philosophy  of  Style. 

"^  the  smallest  number  of  words,  then  will  it  be  an  advantage 
to  express  it  in  the  smallest  number  of  syllables.  If  circui- 
tous phrases  and  needless  expletives  distract  the  attention 
and  diminish  the  strength  of  the  impression  produced,  then 
do  surplus  articulations  do  so.  A  certain  effort,  though  com- 
monly an  inappreciable  one,  must  be  required  to  recognize 
every  vowel  and  consonant.  If,  as  all  know,  it_is  tiresome 
to  listen  to  an  indistinct  speaker,  or  read  a  badly- written 
manuscript  j  and  if,  as  we  cannot  doubt,  the  fatigue  is  a 
cumulative  result  of  the  attention  needed  to  catch  succes- 
sive syllables;  it  follows  that  attention  is  in  such  cases 
absorbed  by  each  syllable.  And  if  this  be  true  when  the 
syllables  are  difficult  of  recognition,  it  will  also  be  true, 
though  in  a  less  degree,  when  the  recognition  of  them  is 
easy.  Hence,  the  shortness  of  Saxon  words  becomes  a  rea- 
son for  their   greater   force.     One  qualification,  however, 

r  must  not  be  overlooked.  A^  word  which  in  itself  embodies 
the  most  important  part  of  the  idea  to  be  conveyed,  espe- 
cially when  that  idea  is  an  emotional  one,  may  often  with 
advantage  be  a  polysyllabic  word.  Thus  it  seems  more 
forcible  to  say,  "  It  is  magnificent,^^  than  "  It  is  grand.'' 
The  word  vast  is  not  so  powerful  a  one  as  stupendous.  Call- 
ing a  thing  nasty  is  not  so  effective  as  calling  it  disgusting. 

7.  There  seem  to  be  several  causes  for  this  exceptional 
superiority  of  certain  long  words.  We  may  ascribe  it 
partly  to  the  fact  that  a  voluminous,  mouth-filling  epithet 
is,  by  its  very  size,  suggestive  of  largeness  or  strength ; 
witness  the  immense  pomposity  of  sesquipedalian  verbiage : 
and  when  great  power  or  intensity  has  to  be  suggested,  this 
association  of  ideas  aids  the  effect.  A  further  cause  may  be 
tliat_ajword  of  several  syllables  admits  of  more  emphatic 

t  articulation ;  and  as  emphatic  articulatiun  is  a  sign  of  emo- 
Jtion,_the  unusualinipressiveness  of  the  thing  named  is  im- 
plied byit.  .  Yet  another  cause  is  that  a  long  word  (of 
which  the  latter  syllables  are  generally  inferred  as  soon  as 


Causes  of  Force  in  Language.  7 

^he  first  are  spoken)  allows  the  hearer's  consciousness  a 
^longer_  time   to   dwell   upon  the   quality  predicated ;   and 
where,  as  in  the  above  cases,  it  is  to  this  predicated  quality 
that   the  entire  attention  is  called,  an  advantage  results 
from  keeping  it  before  the  mind  for  an  appreciable  time. 
The  reasons  which  we  have  given  for  preferring  short  words 
evidently  do  not  hold  here.     So  that  to  make  our  general- 
ization quite  correct  we  must  say,  that  while  in  certain—] 
sentences  expressing  strong  feeling,  the  word  which  more    y 
especially  implies  that  feeling  may  often  with  advantage  '^^ 
be  a  inany-syllabled  or  Latin  one ;  in  the  immense  majority   "^ 
of  cases,  each  word  serving  but  as  a  step  to  the  idea  em- 
bodied  by  the  whole  sentence,  should,  if  possible,  be  a  one- , 
syllabled  or  Saxon  one.  ~' 

8.  Once  more,  that  frequent  cause  of  strength  in  Saxon  , 
and  other  primitive  words  —  their  imitative  character,  may  "^ 
be  similarly  resolved  into  the  more  general  cause.  Both 
those  directly  imitative,  as  splash,  bang,  whiz,  roar,  &c.,  and 
those  analogically  imitative,  as  rough,  smooth,  keen,  blunt, 
thin,  hard,  crag,  &c.,  have  a  greater  or  less  likeness  to  the 
things  symbolized;  and  by  making  on  the  senses  impres- 
sions allied  to  the  ideas  to  be  called  up,  they  save  part  of 
the  effort  needed  to  call  up  such  ideas,  and  leave  more 
attention  for  the  ideas  themselves. 

9.  The  economy  of  the  recipient's  mental  energy,  into 
which  are  thus  resolvable  the  several  causes  of  the  strength 
of  Saxon  English,  may  equally  be  traced  in  the  superiority 
of  specific  over  generic  words.  That  concrete  terms  pro- 
duce more  vivid  impressions  than  abstract  ones,  and  should, 
when  possible,  be  used  instead,  is  a  thorough  maxim  of 
composition.^     As  Dr.  Campbell  says,^  "  The  more  general 

1  The  purpose  of  the  writer  and  the  needs  of  the  reader  must,  however, 
always  be  taken  into  account.  If  the  author's  idea  is  such  as  to  call  for 
abstract  terms,  concrete  expressions  are  obviously  out  of  place.  Of  the  two 
examples  that  follow  in  the  text,  it  may  be  questioned  whether  to  the  legal 
or  scientific  mind  the  first  will  not  convey  by  far  the  greater  satisfaction. 

2  '  Philosophy  of  Rhetoric,'  Bk.  III.,  Chap.  1,  §  1. 


8  The  Philosophy  of  Style. 

the  terms  are,  the  picture  is  the  fainter ;  the  more  special 
they  are,  'tis  the  brighter."  We  shoukl  avoid  such  a  sen- 
tence as :  — "  In  proportion  as  the  manners,  customs,  and 
amusements  of  a  nation  are  cruel  and  barbarous,  the  regula- 
tions of  their  penal  code  will  be  severe."  And  in  place  of 
it  we  should  write :  —  "  In  proportion  as  men  delight  in  bat- 
tles, bull-fights,  and  combats  of  gladiators,  will  they  punish 
by  hanging,  burning,  and  the  rack."  ^ 

10.  _This.,superiority  of  specific  expressions  is  clearly  due 
to  a  saving  of  the  effort  required  to  translate  words  into 
thoughts.  As  we  do  not  think  in  generals  but  in  particu- 
lars—  as,  whenever  any  class  of  things  is  referred  to,  we 
represent  it  to  ourselves  by  calling  to  mind  individual  mem- 
bers of  it ;  it  follows  that  when  an  abstract  word  is  used, 
the  hearer  or  reader  has  to  choose  from  his  stock  of  images, 
one  or  more,  by  which  he  may  figure  to  himself  the  genus 
mentioned.  In  doing  this,  some  delay  must  arise  —  some 
force  be  expended ;  and  if,  by  employing  a  specific  term,  an 
appropriate  image  can  be  at  once  suggested,  an  economy  is 
achieved,  and  a  more  vivid  impression  produced.^ 

1  Dr.  Campbell's  illustration  is  more  to  the  point:  "'Consider,'  says 
our  Lord,  '  the  lilies  bow  they  grow :  they  toil  not,  tbey  spin  not ;  and  yet 
I  say  unto  you,  that  Solomon  in  all  bis  glory  was  not  arrayed  like  one 
of  these.  If,  then,  God  so  clothe  the  grass  which  to-day  is  in  the  field  and 
to-morrow  is  cast  into  the  oven,  bo^  much  piore  will  he  clothe  you  ? '  Let 
us  here  adopt  a  little  of  the  tasteless  manner  of  modern  parapbrasts,  by 
the  substitution  of  more  general  terms,  one  of  their  many  expedients  of 
inf  rigidating,  and  let  us  observe  the  effect  produced  by  this  change.  '  Con- 
sider the  flowers  how  they  gradually  increase  in  their  size;  they  do  no 
manner  of  work,  and  yet  I  declare  to  you  that  no  king  whatever,  in  his 
most  splendid  habit  is  dressed  up  like  them.  If,  then,  God  in  his  provi- 
dence doth  so  adorn  the  vegetable  productions  which  continue  but  a  little 
time  on  the  land,  and  are  afterwards  put  into  the  fire,  how  much  more  will 
he  provide  clothing  for  you  ? '  How  spiritless  is  the  same  sentiment  ren- 
dered by  these  small  variations!  The  very  particularizing  of  to-day  and 
to-morrow  is  infinitely  more  expressive  of  transitoriuess  than  any  descrip- 
tion wherein  the  terms  are  general  that  can  be  substituted  in  its  room." 
—  'Philosophy  of  Rhetoric,'  Bk.  III.,  Chap.  1,  §  1. 

2  The  psychology  of  this  passage  is  not  above  suspicion.    The  operation 


Causes  of  Force  in  Language.  9 

iii.    The  Principle  of  Economy  applied  to  Sentences. 

11.  Turning  now  from  the  choice  of  words  to  their  se- 
quence, we  shall  find  the  same  general  principle  hold  good.^ 
We  have  a  priori  reasons  for  believing  that  in  every  sen- 
tence there  is  some  one  order  of  words  more  effective  than 
any  other ;  and  that  this  order  ^s  the  one  which  presents 
the  elements  of  the  proposition  in  the  succession  in  which 
they  may  be  most  readily  put  together.  As  in  a  narrative, 
the  events  should  be  stated  in  such  sequence  that  thejnind 
may  not  hate  to  go  backwards  and  forwards  in  order  to 
rightly  connect  them;  as  in  a  group  of  sentences,  the  ar- 
rangement should  be  such,  that  each  of  them  may  be  under- 
stood as  it  comes,  without  waiting  for  subsequent  ones ;  so 
in  every  sentence,  the  sequence  of  words  should  be  that  ' 
which  suggests  the  constituents  of  the  thought  in  the  order 
most  convenient  for  the  building  up  that  thought.  Duly  J 
to  enforce  this  truth,  and  to  prepare  the  way  for  applica- 
tions of  it,  we  must  briefly  inquire  into  the  mental  act  by 
which  the  meaning  of  a  series  of  words  is  apprehended.^ 

of  the  mind  in  thinking  a  class  is  different  from  its  operation  in  thinking  a 
particular  of  that  class.  In  the  latter  case  the  mental  procedure  consists 
in  bringing  up  a  particular  image  of  the  thing ;  in  the  former  the  mind 
grasps  the  function  of  the  image,  leaving  the  particular  features  wholly 
out  of  account.  The  trained  thinker  in  thinking  the  class  'horse'  does 
not  "choose  from  his  stock"  of  mental  horses.  He  thinks  the  concept 
horse,  and  in  so  doing  he  may  attain  to  a  perfectly  definite  notion  of  the 
class  without  ha\ing  in  consciousness  any  particular  horse  whatsoever. 
The  particular  image  is  of  course  present,  but  such  features  as  hight,  color, 
etc.,  are  simply  disregarded.  See,  on  this  point,  Dewey's  '  Psychology,' 
pp.  204-213;  James's  'Psychology,'  I.,  Chap.  12;  'How  do  Concepts  arise 
from  Percepts  ? '  by  J.  Dewey,  in  Public  School  Journal  for  November, 
1891;  James's  address  in  Psychol.  Rev. 

1  On  the  general  question  of  the  order  of  words  in  sentences,  see  the 
admirable  little  treatise  by  H.  Weil,  '  The  Order  of  Words  in  the  Ancient 
Languages  compared  with  that  of  the  Modern  Languages'  (Trans,  by 
C.  W.  Super,  Boston  :  1887). 

2  "  But  there  is  another  elemenLwe  have  to  take  into  account,  and  that 
is  the  rhythmical  effect  of  Style.     Mr.  Herbert  Spencer  in  his  essay  very 


10  The  Philosophy  of  Style. 

12.  We  cannot  more  simply  do  this  than  by  considering 
the  proper  collocation  of  the  substantive  and  adjective.  Is 
it  better  to  place  the  adjective  before  the  substantive,  or 
the  substantive  before  the  adjective  ?  Ought  we  to  say 
with  the  French  —  un  cheval  noir ;  or  to  say  as  we  do  —  a 
black  horse  ?  Probably,  most  persons  of  culture  would  de- 
cide that  one  order  is  as  good  as  the  other.  Alive  to  the 
bias  produced  by  habit,  they  would  ascribe  to  that  the  pref- 
erence they  feel  for  our  own  form  of  expression.  They 
would  expect  those  educated  in  the  use  of  the  opposite 
form  to  have  an  equal  preference  for  that.  And  thus  they 
would  conclude  that  neither  of  these  instinctive  judgments 
is  of  any  worth.  There  is,  however,  a  philosophical  ground 
for  deciding  in  favour  of  the  English  custom.  If  "  a  horse 
black"  be  the  arrangement,  immediately  on  the  utterance 
of  the  word  ''horse,"  there  arises,  or  tends  to  arise,  in  the 
mind,  a  picture  answering  to  that  word ;  and  as  there  has 
been  nothing  to  indicate  what  kind  of  horse,  any  image  of  a 
horse  suggests  itself.  Very  likely,  however,  the  image  will 
be  that  of  a  brown  horse,  brown  horses  being  the  most 
familiar.  The  result  is  that  when  the  word  ''black"  is 
added,  a  check  is  given  to  the  process  of  thought.  Either 
the  picture  of  a  brown  horse  already  present  to  the  imagi- 
nation has  to  be  suppressed,  and  the  picture  of  a  black  one 
summoned  in  its  place ;  or  else,  if  the  picture  of  a  brown 

clearly  states  the  law  of  Sequence,  but  I  infer  that  he  would  include  it  en- 
tirely under  the  law  of  Economy ;  at  any  rate  he  treats  of  it  solely  in  refer- 
ence to  intelligibility,  and  not  at  all  in  its  scarcely  less  important  relation 
to  harmony.  .  .  .  But  Style  appeals  to  the  emotions  as  well  as  to  the  intel- 
lect, and  the  arrangement  of  words  and  sentences  which  will  be  the  most 
economical  may  not  be  the  most  musical,  and  the  most  musical  may  not 
be  the  most  pleasurably  effective.  For  Climax  and  Variety  it  may  be 
necessary  to  sacrifice  something  of  rapid  intelligibility :  hence  involutions, 
antitheses,  and  suspensions,  which  disturb  the  most  orderly  arrange- 
ment, may  yet,  in  virtue  of  their  own  subtle  influences,  be  counted  as 
improvements  on  that  arrangement."  —  Lewes's  '  Principles  of  Success  in 
Literature,'  p.  143. 


Causes  of  Force  in  Language.  11 

horse  be  yet  unformed,  the  tendency  to  form  it  has  to  be 
stopped.  Whichever  is  the  case,  a  certain  amount  of  hin- 
drance results.  But  if,  on  the  other  hand,  "  a  black  horse  " 
be  the  expression  used,  no  such  mistake  can  be  made.  The 
word  "  black,"  indicating  an  abstract  quality,  arouses  no 
definite  idea.  It  simply  prepares  the  mind  for  conceiving 
some  object  of  that  colour ;  aiid  the  attention  is  kept  sus- 
pended until  that*  object  is  known.  If,  then,  by  the  prece- 
dence of  the  adjective,  the  idea  is  conveyed  without  liability 
to  error,  whereas  the  precedence  of  the  substantive  is  apt  to 
produce  a  misconception,  it  follows  that  the  one  gives  the 
mind  less  trouble  than  the  other,  and  is  therefore  more 
forcible.' 

13.  Possibly  it  will  be  objected  that  the  adjective  and 
substantive  come  so  close  together,  that  practically  they 
may  be  considered  as  uttered  at  the  same  moment ;  and  that 
on  hearing  the  phrase,  "  a  horse  black,"  there  is  not  time  to 
imagine  a  wrongly-coloured  horse  before  the  word  "  black  " 
follows  to  prevent  it.  It  must  be  owned  that  it  is  not  easy 
to  decide  by  introspection  whether  this  is  so  or  not.^  But 
there  are  facts  collaterally  implying  that  it  is  not.     Our 

1  Two  fallacies  lurk  in  this  argument :  (1)  That  the  "  bias  produced  by- 
habit  "  is  a  factor  that  may  be  disregarded,  for  obviously  if  the  substan- 
tive-adjective order  were  the  one  habitually  employed  and  expected,  econ- 
omy would  dictate  that  the  opposite  order  be  avoided ;  (2)  that  the  par- 
ticulars of  a  concrete  visual  image  necessarily  arise  in  the  mind  upon 
hearing  the  term  '  horse.'  The  '  image '  may  be  a  sound  or  a  moving  line. 
"  Take  the  following  report  from  one  of  my  students :  '  I  am  unable  to 
form  in  my  mind's  eye  any  visual  likeness  of  the  table  whatever.  After 
many  trials  I  can  only  get  a  hazy  surface,  with  nothing  on  or  about  it.  I 
can  see  no  variety  in  color,  and  no  positive  limitations  in  extent,  while  I 
cannot  see  what  I  see  well  enough  to  determine  its  position  in  respect  to 
my  eye,  or  to  endow  it  with  any  quality  of  size.  I  am  in  the  same  posi- 
tion as  to  the  word  dor/.  I  cannot  see  it  in  my  mind's  eye  at  all;  and  so 
cannot  tell  whether  I  should  have  to  run  my  eye  along  it,  if  I  did  see  it.'  " 
—  James's  '  Psychology,'  II.,  p.  57,  note.    The  whole  chapter  should  be  read. 

2  See,  for  a  discussion  of  this  point,  Victor  Egger's  '  La  Parole  interieure,' 
Chaps.  (J,  7;  James's  '  Psychology,'  I.,  pp.  280,  281,  note. 


12  The  Philosophy  of  Style. 

ability  to  anticipate  the  words  yet  unspoken  is  one  of  them. 
If  the  ideas  of  the  hearer  kept  considerably  behind  the 
expressions  of  the  speaker,  as  the  objection  assumes,  he 
could  hardly  foresee  the  end  of  a  sentence  by  the  time  it 
was  half  delivered:  yet  this  constantly  happens.^  Were 
the  supposition  true,  the  mind,  instead  of  anticipating, 
would  be  continually  falling  more  and  more  in  arrear.  If 
the  meanings  of  words  are  not  realized  as  fast  as  the  words 
are  uttered,  then  the  loss  of  time  over  each  word  must 
entail  such  an  accumulation  of  delays  as  to  leave  a  hearer 
entirely  behind.  But  whether  the  force  of  these  replies  be 
or  be  not  admitted,  it  will  scarcely  be  denied  that  the  right 
formation  of  a  picture  will  be  facilitated  by  presenting  its 
elements  in  the  order  in  which  they  are  wanted ;  ^  even 
though  the  mind  should  do  nothing  until  it  has  received 
them  all. 

14.  What  is  here  said  respecting  the  succession  of  the 
adjective  and  substantive  is  obviously  applicable,  by  change 
,of;jterms,  to  the  adverb  and  verb.  And  without  further 
explanation,  it  will  be  manifest,  that  in  the  use  of  preposi- 
tions and  other  particles,  most  languages  spontaneously 
conform  with  more  or  less  completeness  to  this  law. 

1  Speucer  fails  to  see  how  this  fact  tells  against  his  theory.  (1)  The 
Frenchman,  accustomed  to  the  substantive-adjective  order,  will  anticipate 
the  coming  noir,  or  some  other  adjective,  as  soon  as  he  hears  the  word 
cheval.  Hence  in  his  case  the  nascent  image  of  a  wrongly-colored  horse 
will  not  tend  to  arise.  The  peculiar  intonation  of  the  substantive  will 
probably  give  him  a  hint  as  to  whether  the  adjective  is  or  is  not  to  follow. 
(2)  In  the  case  of  the  Englishman,  the  word  '  black'  may  lead  the  hearer 
to  anticipate  some  other  substantive  than  '  horse  ' ;  he  may  expect '  sheep,' 
or  '  man,'  or  '  eye,'  to  follow,  since  all  these  things  may  possess  the  quality 
blackness. 

2  In  the  original  article  as  it  appeared  in  the  Westminster  Review,  the 
following  words  are  inserted  at  this  point:  "  and  that,  as  in  forming  the 
image  answering  to  a  red  flower,  the  notion  of  redness  is  one  of  the  com- 
ponents that  must  be  used  in  the  construction  of  the  image,  the  mind,  if 
put  in  possession  of  this  notion  before  the  specific  image  to  be  formed 
out  of  it  is  suggested,  will  more  easily  form  it  than  if  the  order  be  reversed." 


Causes  of  Force  in  Language.  13 

15.  On  applying  a  like_ analysis  to  the  larger  divisions 
of  a  sentence,   we  find  not  only  that  the   same  principle 

~irolds  good,  but  that  the  advantage  of  respecting  it  becomes 
marked.  In  the  arrangement  of  predicate  and  subject,  for 
example,  we  are  at  once  shown  that  as  the  predicate  deter- 
mines the  aspect  under  which  the  subject  is  to  be  conceived,, 
it  should  be  placed  first ;  and  the  striking  effect  produced 
by  so  placing  it  becomes  comprehensible.  Take  the  often- 
quoted  contrast  between  '^_Great_is.  Diana  of  the  Ephesians^" 
and  ''Diana  of  the  Ephesians  is  great."  When  the  first 
arrangement  is  used,  the  utterance  of  the  word  "  great " 
arouses  those  vague  associations  of  an  impressive  nature 
with  which  it  has  been  habitually  connected ;  the  imagina- 
tion is  prepared  to  clothe  with  high  attributes  whatever 
follows ;  and  when  the  words,  "  Diana  of  the  Ephesians," 
are  heard,  all  the  approprife;e  imagery  which  can,  on  the 
instant,  be  summoned,  is  used  in  the  formation  of  the  pic- 
ture :  the  mind  being  thus  led  directly,  and  without  error, 
to  the  intended  impression.  When,  on  the  contrary,  the 
reverse  order  is  followed,  the  idea,  "Diana  of  the  Ephe- 
sians," is  conceived  with  no  special  reference  to  greatness ; 
and  when  the  words  ''  is  great "  are  added,  the  conception 
has  to  be  remodelled ;  whence  arises  a  loss  of  mental  energy 

__a.nd  a  corresponding  diminution  of  effect)  The  following 
verse  from  Coleridge's  '  Ancient  Mariner,'  though  somewhat 
irregular  in  structure,  well  illustrates  the  same  truth  : 

"Alone,  alone,  all,  all  alone, 
Alone  on  a  wide,  wide  sea  ! 
And  never  a  saint  took  pity  on 
My  soul  in  agony." 

16.  Of  course  the  principle   equally   applies   when  the 
predicate  is  a  verb  or  a  participle.    _And  as  effect  is  gained    W  _ 
by  placing  first  all  words  indicating  the  quality,  conduct  or    ^ 
condition  of   tlie  subject^  it  follows  that  the  copula  also 
should  Have  pjrecedence.     It  is  true  that  the  general  habit 


14  The  Philosophy  of  Style. 

of  our  language  resists  this  arrangement  of  predicate,  copula 
and  subject;  but  we  may  readily  find  instances  of  the  addi- 
tional force  gained  by  conforming  to  it.  Thus,  in  the  line 
from  '  Julius  Caesar '  — 

"Then  hiirst  his  mighty  heart," 

priority  is  given  to  a  word  embodying  both  predicate  and 
copula.  In  a  passage  contained  in  '  The  Battle  of  Floddeu 
Field,'  the  like  order  is  systematically  employed  with  great 

effect : 

"  The  Border  slogan  rent  the  sky  ! 
A  Home  !  a  Gordon  !  teas  the  cry  ; 
Loud  loere  the  clanging  blows  : 
Advanced  — forced  back  —  wore  low,  now  high, 

The  pennon  sunk  and  rose  ; 
As  bends  the  bark's  iM,st  in  the  gale 
When  rent  are  rigging,  shrouds  and  sail, 
It  wavered  'mid  the  foes." 

17.  Pursuing  the  principle  yet  further,  it  is  obvious  that 
for  producing  the  greatest  effect,  not  only  should  the  main 
divisions  of  a  sentence  observe  this  sequence,  but  the  sub^ 
divisions  of  tTiese  should  be  similarly  arranged.  In  nearly 
all  cases,  the  predicate  is  accompanied  by  some  limit  or 
qualification,  called  its  complement.  Commonly,  also,  the 
circumstances  of  the  subject,  which  form  its  complement, 
have  to  be  specified.  And  as  these  qualifications  and  cir- 
cumstances must  determine  the  mode  in  which  the  acts  and 
things  they  belong  to  are  conceived,  precedence  should  be 
givei;i  to  them.  Lord  Kaimes  ^  notices  the  fact  that  this 
order  is  preferable ;  though  without  giving  the  reason.  He 
says  :  —  "  When  a  circumstance  is  placed  at  the  beginning 
of  the  period,  or  near  the  beginning,  the  transition  from  it 
to  the  principal  subject  is  agreeable :  it  is  like  ascending  or 
going  upward."     A  sentence  arranged  in  illustration  of  this 

1  'Elements  of  Criticism,'  Chap.  18,  §  2. 


Causes  of  Force  in  Language.  15 

will  be  desirable.     Here  is  one  :  —  "Whatever  it  may  be  ia 
^heor}^,  it  is  clear  that  in  practice,  the  French  idea  of  liberty 
is  —  the  right  of  every  man  to  be  master  of  the  rest," 

18.  In  this  case,  were  the  first  t^vo  clauses,  up  to  the 
word  "  practice  "  inclusive,  which  qualify  the  subject,  to  be 
placed  at  the  end  instead  of  the  beginning,  much  of  the 
force  would  be  lost ;  as  thus  :  —  "  The  French  idea  of  liberty 
is  —  the  iright  of  every  man  to  be  master  of  the  rest ;  in 
practice  at  least,  if  not  in  theory." 

19.  Similarly  with  respect  to  the  conditions  under  which 
any  fact  is  predicated.  Observe  in  the  following  example 
the  effect  of  putting  them  last :  —  "  How  immense  would  be 
the  stimulus  to  progress,  were  the  honour  now  given  to 
wealth  and  title  given  exclusively  to  high  achievements 
and  intrinsic  worth  !  "■ 

20.  And  then  observe  the  superior  effect  of  putting  them 
first:  —  "_WereJbhe__honour  now  given  to  wealth  and  title 

_given  exclusively  to  high  achievements  and  intrinsic  worth, 
^ow  immense  would  be  the  stimulus  to  progress !  " 

21.  The  effect  of  giving  priority  to  the  complement  of 
the  predicate,  as  well  as  the  predicate  itself,  is  finely 
displayed  in  the  opening  of  '  Hyperion  ' : 

'^^  Deep  in  the  shady  sadness  of  a  vale 
Far  sunken  from  the  healthy  breath  of  morn. 
Far  from  the  fiery  noon  and  eye's  one  star 
Sat  gray-haired  Saturn,  quiet  as  a  stone." 

Here  it  will  be  observed,  not  only  that  the  predicate  "sat" 
precedes  the  subject  "Saturn,"  and  that  the  three  lines  in 
italics,  constituting  the  complement  of  the  predicate,  come 
before  it ;  but  that  in  the  structure  of  that  complement  also, 
the  same  order  is  followed:  each  line  being  so  arranged  .b  . 
tha^the_(]^ualifyiug  words  are  placed  before  the  words  sugr 
gesting  concrete  images^_  f 

22.  The  right  succession  of  the  principal  and  subordinate 
propositions  in  a  sentence  manifestly  depends  on  the  same 


16  The  Philosophy  of  Style. 

law.  Regard  for  economy  of  the  recipient's  attention, 
which,  as  we  find,  determines  the  best  order  for  the  subject, 
copula,  predicate  and  their  complements,  dictates  that  the 
subordinate  proposition  shall  precede  the  principal  one  when 
the  sentence  includes  two.  Containing,  as  the  subordinate 
proposition  does,  some  qualifying  or  explanatory  idea,  its 
priority  prevents  misconception  of  the  principal  one ;  and 
therefore  saves  the  mental  effort  needed  to  correct  such 
misconception.  This  will  be  seen  in  the  annexed  example  :  ^ 
"  The  secrecy  once  maintained  in  respect  to  the  parliamen- 
tary debates,  is  still  thought  needful  in  diplomacy ;  and  in 
virtue  of  this  secret  diplomacy,  England  may  any  day  be 
unawares  betrayed  by  its  ministers  into  a  war  costing  a 
hundred  thousand  lives,  and  hundreds  of  millions  of  treas- 
ure :  yet  the  English  pique  themselves  on  being  a  self-gov- 
erned people."  The  two  subordinate  propositions,  ending 
with  the  semicolon  and  colon  respectively,  almost  wholly 
determine  the  meaning  of  the' principal  proposition  with 
which  it  concludes  ;  and  the  effect  would  be  lost  were  they 
placed  last  instead  of  first. 

23.  The  general  principle  of  right  .arrangement  in  sen- 
tences, which  we  have  traced  in  its  application  to  the  lead- 
ing divisions  of  them,  equally  determines  the  proper  order 
of  their  minor  divisions.  In  every  sentence  of  any  com- 
plexity the  complement  to  the  subject  contains  several 
clauses,  and  that  to  the  predicate  several  others ;  and  these 
may  be  arranged  in  greater  or  less  conformity  to  the,  law  of 
easy  apprehension.  Of  course  with  these,  as  with  the 
larger  members,  the  succession  should  be  from  the  less 
specific  to  the  more  specific  —  from  the  abstract  to  the  con- 
v_  Crete. 

1  The  following  is  the  example  given  in  the  Westminster  Review  :  "Those 
who  weekly  go  to  church,  and  there  have  doled  out  to  them  a  quantum  of 
belief  which  they  have  not  energy  to  work  out  for  themselves,  are  simply 
spiritual  paupers." 


Causes  of  Force  in  Language.  17 

24.  Now,  however,  we  must  notice  a  further  condition  to 
be  fulfilled  in  the  proper  construction  of  a  sentence ;  but 
still  a  condition  dictated  by  the  same  general  principle  with 
the   other:    the    condition,    namely,    that   the    words    and-^ 
expressions  most  nearly  related  in  thought  shall  be  brought     ' 

^tlTe  closest  together.  Evidently  the  single  words,  the  minor 
clauses,  and  the  leading  divisions  of  every  proposition,  sev- 
erally qualify  each  other.  The  longer  the  time  that  elapses 
between  the  mention  of  any  qualifying  member  and  the 
member  qualified,  the  longer  must  the  mind  be  exerted  in 
carrying  forward  the  qualifying  member  ready  for  use. 
And  the  more  numerous  the  qualifications  to  be  simultane- 
ously remembered  and  rightly  applied,  the  greater  will  be  v 
the  mental  power  expended,  and  the  smaller  the  effect  pro- 
duced. Hence,  other  things  equal,  force  will  be  gained  by 
so  arranging  the  members  of  a  sentence  that  these  suspen-  ,/~ 
sions  shall  at  any  moment  be  the  fewest  in  number;  and  •'/ 
shall  also  be  of  the  shortest  duration.  The  following  is  an 
instance  of  defective  combination: — "A  modern  newspaper- 
statement,  though  probably  true,  would  be  laughed  at  if 
quoted  in  a  book  as  testimony ;  but  the  letter  of  a  court 
gossip  is  thought  good  historical  evidence,  if  written  some 
centuries  ago."  A  rearrangement  of  this,  in  accordance 
with  the  principle  indicated  above,  will  be  found  to  increase 
the  effect.  Thus  :  — "  Though  probably  true,  a  modern 
newspaper-statement  quoted  in  a  book  as  testimony,  would 
be  laughed  at;  but  the  letter  of  a  court  gossip,  if  written 
some  centuries  ago,  is  thought  good  historical  evidence." 

25.  By  making  this  change,  some  of  the  suspensions  are 
^avoided  and  others  shortened;  while  there  is  less  liability 

to  produce  premature  conceptions.  The  passage  quoted 
below  from  '  Paradise  Lost '  affords  a  fine  instance  of  a 
sentence  well  arranged ;  alike  in  the  priority  of  the  subor- 
dinate members,  in  the  avoidance  of  long  and  numerous 
suspensions,  and  in  the  correspondence  between  the  order 


18  The  PhiloHophu  of  Style. 

of  the  clauses  and  the  sequence  of  the  phenomena  described, 
which,  by  the  way,  is  a  further  prerequisite  to  easy  compre- 
hension, and  therefore  to  effect. 

"As  when  a  prowling  wolf, 
Whom  hunger  drives  to  seek  new  haunt  for  prey, 
Watching  where  shepherds  pen  their  flocks  at  eve, 
In  hurdled  cotes  amid  the  field  secure, 
Leaps  o'er  the  fence  with  ease  into  the  fold ; 
Or  as  a  thief,  bent  to  unhoard  the  cash 
Of  some  rich  burgher,  whose  substantial  doors, 
Cross-barr'd,  and  bolted  fast,  fear  no  assault, 
In  at  the  window  chmbs,  or  o'er  the  tiles  ; 
So  clomb  this  first  grand  thief  into  God's  fold ; 
So  since  into  his  church  lewd  hirelings  climb."  i 

26.  The  habitual  use  of  sentences  in  which  all  or  most 
of  the  descriptive  and  limiting  elements  precede  those  de- 
scribed and  limited,  gives  rise  to  what  is  called  the  inverted 

..style :  a  title  which  is,  however,  by  no  means  confined  to 
this  structure,  but  is  often  used  where  the  order  of  the 
words  is  simply  unusual.  A  more  appropriate  title  would 
be  the  direct  style,  as  contrasted  with  the  other,  or  indirect 
style :  the  peculiarity  of  the  one  being,  that  it  conveys  each 
thought  into  the  mind  step  by  step  with  little  liability  to 
error;  and  of  the  other,  that  it  gets  the  right  thought  con- 
ceived by  a  series  of  approximations.  "^ 

27.  The  superiority  of  the  direct  over  the  indirect  form 
of  sentence,  implied  by  the  several  conclusions  that  have 
been  drawn,  must  not,  however,  be  affirmed  without  reserva- 
tion. Though,  up  to  a  certain  point,  it  is  well  for  the  quali- 
fying clauses  of  a  period  to  precede  those  qualified ;  yet,  as 

'carrying  forward  each  qualifying  clause  costs  some  mental 
effort,  it  follows  that  when  the  number  of  them  and  the 
time  they  are  carried  become  great,  we  reach  a  limit  beyond 
which  more  is  lost  than  is  gained.     Other  things  equal,  the 

1  Bk.  IV.,  lines  183-193. 


Causes  of  Force  in  Language.  19 

arrangement  should  be  such  that  no  concrete  image  shall  be"*» 
suggested  until  the  materials  out  of  which  it  is  to  be  made 
have  been  presented.  And  yet,  as  lately  pointed  out,  other 
things  equal,  the  fewer  the  materials  to  be  held  at  once,  and 
the  shorter  the  distance  they  have  to  be  borne,  the  better. 
Hence  in  some  cases  it  becomes  a  question  whether  most 
mental  effort  will  be  entailed  by  the  many  and  long  suspen- 
sions, or  by  the  correction  of  successive  misconceptions. 

28.  This  question  may  sometimes  be  decided  by  consider- 
ing the  capacity  of  the  persons  addressed.  A  greater  grasp 
of  mind  is  required  for  the  ready  comprehension  of  thoughts 
expressed  in  the  direct  manner,  where  the  sentences  are 
anywise  intricate.  To  recollect  a  number  of  preliminaries 
stated  in  elucidation  of  a  coming  idea,  and  to  apply  them 
all  to  tlie  iurmation  of  it  when  suggested,  demands  a  good 
memory  and  considerable  power  of  concentration.  To  one 
possessing  these,  the  direct  method  will  mostly  seem  the 
best ;  while  to  one  deficient  in  them  it  will  seem  the  worst. 
Just  as  it  may  cost  a  strong  man  less  effort  to  carry  a  hun- 
dred-weight from  place  to  place  at  once,  than  by  a  stone  at 
a  time ;  so,  to  an  active  mind  it  may  be  easier  to  bear  along 
all  the  qualifications  of  an  idea  and  at  once  rightly  form  it 
when  named,  than  to  first  imperfectly  conceive  such  idea 
and  then  carry  back  to  it,  one  by  one,  the  details  and  limita- 
tions afterwards  mentioned.  While  conversely,  as  for  a  boy, 
the  only  possible  mode  of  transferring  a  hundred-weight,  is 
that  of  taking  it  in  portions ;  so,  for  a  weak  mind,  the  only 
possible  mode  of  forming  a  compound  conception  may  be 
that  of  building  it  up  by  carrying  separately  its  several 
parts.  U 

2^.    That  the  indiioct  method  — the  method  of  conveying 
the  meaning_by  ;i  series  of  approximations — is  best  fitted _^, 
for  the  uncultivated,   may  indeed  be  inferred  from  their   ^ 
habitual  use  of  it.     The  form  of  expression  adopted  by  the 
savage,  as  in  —  "  Water,  give'me,"  is  the  simplest  type  of 


20  The  Fhilosophi/  of  Style. 

the  approximate  arrangement.  In  pleonasms,  which  are 
comparatively  prevalent  among  the  uneducated,  the  same 
essential  structure  is  seen ;  as,  for  instance,  in —  "  The  men, 
they  were  there."  Again,  the  old  possessive  case  —  "The 
king,  his  crown,"  conforms  to  the  like  order  of  thought. 
Moreover,  the  fact  that  the  indirect  mode  is  called  the 
natural  one,  implies  that  it  is  the  one  spontaneously  em- 
ployed by  the  common  people:  that  is — the  one  easiest  for 
"undisciplined  minds. 

30.  There_axe  jimiy?;  cases^  h  in  which  neither  the 
direct  nor  the  indirect  structure  is  the  best;  but  where  an 
intermedia^^tructure,  js--. preferable  tp_  both.  When  the 
number  of  circumstances  and  qualifications  to  be  included 
in  the  sentence  is  great,  the  most  judicious  course  is  neither 
to  enumerate  them  all  before  introducing  the  idea  to  which 
they  belong,  nor  to  put  this  idea  first  and  let  it  be  remod- 
elled to  agree  with  the  particulars  afterwards  mentioned ; 
but  to  do  a  little  of  each.  Take  a  case.  It  is  desirable  to 
avoid  so  extremely  indirect  an  arrangement  as  the  follow- 
ing ;  —  "  We  came  to  our  journey's  end,  at  last,  with  no  small 
difficulty  after  much  fatigue,  through  deep  roads,  and  bad 
w^eather."  Yet  to  transform  this  into  an  entirely  direct 
sentence  would  not  produce  a  satisfactory  effect;  as  wit- 
ness :  —  "At  last,  with  no  small  difficulty,  after  much  fatigue, 
through  deep  roads,  and  bad  weather,  we  came  to  our  jour- 
ney's end." 

31.  Dr.  Whately,  from  whom  we  quote  the  first  of  these 
two  arrangements,^  proposes  this  construction :  —  "At  last, 
after  much  fatigue,  through  deep  roads  and  bad  weather,  we 
came,  with  no  small  difficulty,  to  our  journey's  end."  Here 
it  will  be  observed  that  by  introducing  the  words  "we 
came  "  a  little  earlier  in  the  sentence,  the  labour  of  carry- 
ing forward  so  many  particulars  is  diminished,  and  the  sub- 
sequent qualification  "with  no  small  difficulty"  entails  an 

1  'Rhetoric,'  Pt.  III.,  Chap.  2,  §  12. 


Causes  of  Force  in  Language.  21 

addition  to  the  thought  that  is  very  easily  made.  But  a 
further  improvement  may  be  produced  by  introducing  the 
words  "  we  came "  still  earlier ;  especially  if  at  the  same 
time  the  qualifications  be  rearranged  in  conformity  with  the 
principle  already  explained,  that  the  more  abstract  elements 
of  the  thought  should  come  before  the  more  concrete.  Ob- 
serve the  better  effect  obtained  by  making  these  two  changes  : 
—  "  At  last,  with  no  small  diflBculty,  and  after  much  fatigue, 
we  came,  through  deep  roads  and  bad  weather,  to  our  jour- 
ney's end."  This"  reads  Avith  comparative  smoothness  ;  that 
is,  with  less  hindrance  from  suspensions  and  reconstructions 
of  thought  —  with  less  mental  effort. 

32.  Before  dismissing  this  branch  of  our  subject,  it 
should  be  further  remarked,  that  even  when  addressing  the 
most  vigorous  intellects,  the  direct  style  is  unfit  for  com-«»v 
municating  ideas  of  a  complex  or  abstract  character.  So 
long  as  the  mind  has  not  much  to  do,  it  may  be  well  able 
to  grasp  all  the  preparatory  clauses  of  a  sentence,  and  to 
use  them  effectively  ;  but  if  some  subtlety  in  the  argument 
absorb  the  attention  —  if  every  faculty  be  strained  in  en- 
deavouring to  catch  the  speaker's  or  writer's  drift,  it  may 
happen  that  the  mind,  unable  to  carry  on  both  processes 
at  once,  will  break  down,  and  allow  the  elements  of  the 
thought  to  lapse  into  confusion. 

iv.    The  Principle  of  Economy  apjylied  to  Figures. 

33.  Turning  now  to  consider  figures  of  speech,  we  may 
equally  discern  the  same  general  law  of  effect.^  Underlying 
all  the  rules  given  for  the  choice  and  right  use  of  them,  we 
shall  find  the  same  fundamental  requirement  —  economy  of     - 

1  On  the  general  subject  of  figures,  see  Max  Muller's  essay  in  Fort- 
nif/htli/,  Vol.  46,  p.  ()17,  ou  '  Metaphor  as  a  Mode  of  Abstraction';  Earle's 
'English  Prose,'  pp.  2;i4-'25:5;  Gummere's  'Poetics,'  pp.  83-132;  Modern 
iMnr/uage  Notes,  Vol.  1,  p.  140,  'The  Classification  of  Rhetorical  Fig- 
ures,' by  C.  B.  Bradley. 


22  The  Philosophy  of  Style. 

attention.     It  is  indeed  chiefly^  because  they  so  well  sub-_ 
serve  this  requirement,  that  tigures  of  s^ieech  are  employed. 
I  To  bring  the  mind  more  easily  to  the  desired  conception, 
I  is  in  many  cases   solely,   and   in   all   cases    mainly,   their 
I  object. 

34.  Let  us  begin  with  the  figure  called  ^ynecdochep 
The  advantage  sometimes  gained  by  putting  a_gart_ior_llie 
whole,  is  due  to  the  more  convenient,  or  more  accurate, 
presentation  of  the  idea.  If,  instead  of  saying  "a  fleet  of 
ten  ships,"  we  say  "  a  fleet  of  ten  sai7,"  the  picture  of  a 
group  of  vessels  at  sea  is  more  readily  suggested ;  and  is  so 
because  the  sails  constitute  the  most  conspicuous  parts  of 
vessels  so  circumstanced:  whereas  th^  word  ships  would 
very  likely  remind  us  of  vessels  in  dock.  Again,  to  say, 
"  All  hands  to  the  pumps,"  is  better  than  to  say,  "  All  men 
to  the  pumps,"  as  it  suggests  the  men  in  the  special  attitude 
intended,  and  so  saves  effort.  Bringing  "gray  hairs  with 
sorrow  to  the  grave,"  is  another  expression,  the  effect  of 
which  has  the  same  cause. 

35.  The  occasional  increase  of  force  produced  by  Metoiv 
(,  ymy  may  be  similarly  accounted  for.     "  The  low  morality 

of  the  bar"  is  a  phrase  both  more  brief  and  significant  than 
the  literal  one  it  stands  for.  A  belief  in  the  ultimate  su- 
premacy of  intelligence  over  brute  force,  is  conveyed  in  a 
more  concrete,  and  therefore  more  realizable  form,  if  we 
substitute  the  pen  and  the  sioord  for  the  two  abstract  terms. 
To  say,  "  Beware  of  drinking ! "  is  less  effective  than  to  say, 
"  Beware  of  the  bottle ! "  and  is  so,  clearly  because  it  calls 
up  a  less  specific  image. 

36.  The  S^ieaileis^in  many  cases  used  chiefly  with  a  view 
to  ornament,  but  whenever  it  increases  the  force  of  a  pas- 
sage, it  does  so  by  being  an  economy.  Here  in  an  instance  : 
"  The  illusion  that  great  men  and  great  events  came  of tener 
in  early  times  than  now,  is  partly  due  to  historical  perspec- 
tive.    As  in  a  range  of  equidistant  columns,  the  furthest 


Causes  of  Force  in  Language.  23 

off  look  the  closest ;  so,  the  conspicuous  objects  of  the 
past  seem  more  thickly  clustered  the  more  remote  they 
are." 

37.  To  construct  by  a  process  of  literal  explanation,  the 
thought  thus  conveyed  would  take  many  sentences,  and  the 
first  elements  of  the  picture  would  become  faint  while  the 
imagination  was  busy  in  adding  the  others.  _But  by  the  help_ 
of  a  comparison  all  effort  is  saved}  the  picture  is  instantly 
realized,  and  its  full  effect  produced. 

38.  Of  the  position  of  the  Simile,^  it  needs  only  to  re- 
mark, that  what  has  been  said  respecting  the  order  of  the 
adjective  and  substantive,  predicate  and  subject,  principal 
and  subordinate  propositions,  &c.,  is  applicable  here.  ..As_ 
whatever   qjialifies   should   precede  whatever   is  qualified,  >, 
force  will  generally  be  gained  by  placing  the  simile  before-ii 
the  object  to  which  it  is  applied.     That  this  arrangement  is 
the  best,  may  be  seen  in  the  following  passage  from  the 

'  Lady  of  the  Lake ' : 

«'  As  wreath  of  snow,  on  mountain  breast, 
Slides  from,  the  rock  that  gave  it  rest, 
Poor  Ellen  glided  from  her  stay,  ' 
And  at  the  monarch's  feet  she  lay."^ 

Inverting  these  couplets  will  be  found  to  diminish  the  effect 
considerably.  There  are  cases,  however,  even  where  the 
simile  is  a  simple  one,  in  which  it  may  with  advantage  be 

1  Properly  the  term  "simile"  is  applicable  only  to  the  entire  figure, 
inclusive  of  the  two  things  compared  and  the  comparison  drawn  between 
them.  But  as  there  exists  no  name  for  the  illustrative  member  of  the  fig- 
ure, there  seems  no  alternative  but  to  employ  "simile"  to  express  this 
also.  This  context  will  in  each  case  show  in  which  sense  the  word  is 
used.  — H.  S. 

2  But  compare  the  arrangement  in  the  following  from  '  Othello ' : 

"  Of  one  whose  subdued  eyes, 
Albeit  unused  to  Ibe  melting  mood 
Drop  tears  as  fast  as  the  Arabian  trees 
Their  medicinal  gum." 


24  The  Philosophy  of  Style. 

placed  last,  as  in  these  lines  from  Alexander  Smith's  '  Life 
Drama ' : 

"  I  see  the  future  stretch 
All  dark  and  barren  as  a  rainy  sea." 

The  reason  for  this  seems  to  be,  that  so  abstract  an  idea  as 
that  attaching  to  the  word  "  future,"  does  not  present  itself 
to  the  mind  in  any  definite  form,  and  hence  the  subsequent 
arrival  at  the  simile  entails  no  reconstruction  of  the  thought. 

39.  Such,  however,  are  not  the  only  cases  in  which  this 
order  is  the  most  forcible.  As  the  advantage  of  putting 
the  simile  before  the  object  depends  on  its  being  carried 
forward  in  the  mind  to  assist  in  forming  an  image  of  the  ob- 
ject, it  must  happen  that  if,  from  length  or  complexity,  it  can- 

jiotjbe  so  carried  forward,  the  advantage  is  not  gained.    Tlie 
annexed  sonnet,  by  Coleridge,  is  defective  from  this  cause : 

"  As  when  a  child,  on  some  long  winter's  night, 
Affrighted,  clinging  to  its  grandam's  knees, 
With  eager  wond'ring  and  perturb'd  delight 
Listens  strange  tales  of  fearful  dark  decrees, 
Mutter'd  to  wretch  by  necromantic  spell ; 
Or  of  those  hags  who  at  the  witching  time 
Of  murky  midnight,  ride  the  air  sublime, 
And  mingle  foul  embrace  with  fiends  of  hell ; 
Cold  horror  drinks  its  blood  !     Anon  the  tear 
More  gentle  starts,  to  hear  the  beldame  tell 
Of  pretty  babes,  that  lov'd  each  other  dear, 
Murder'd  by  cruel  uncle's  mandate  fell : 
Ev'n  such  the  shiv'ring  joys  thy  tones  impart, 
Ev'n  so,  thou,  Siddons,  meltest  my  sad  heart." 

40.  Here,  from  the  lapse^  of  time  a-nd  accumulation^ jof. 
circumstances,  the  first  part  of  the  comparison  is  forgotten 
before  its  application  is  reached,  and  requires  re-reading. 
Had  the  main  idea  been  first  mentioned,  less  effort  would 

Jiaye  been  required  to  retain  it,  and  to  modify  the  concep- 
tion of  it  into  harmony  with  the  comparison,  than  to  remem- 
ber the  comparison,  and  refer  back  to  its  successive  features 
for  help  in  forming  the  final  image. 


Causes  of  Force  in  Language.  26 

41.  The  ^superiority  of  the  Metaphor  to  the  Simile  is  as- 
cribed by  Dr.  Whately  ^  to  the  fact  that  "  all  men  are  more 
gratified  at  catching  the  resemblance  for  themselves,  than 
in  having  it  pointed  out  to  them."  But  after  what  has 
been  said,  the  great  economy  it  achieves  will  seem  the  more 
probable  cause.     Lear's  exclamation  — 

"  Ingratitude  !  thou  marble- hearted  fiend," 
would  lose  part  of  its  effect  were  it  changed  into  — 
"  Ingratitude  !  thou  fiend  with  heart  like  marble ;  " 

and  the  loss~ would  result  partly  from  the  position  of  the 
simile  and  partly  from  the  extra  number  of  words  required. 
When  the  comparison  is  an  involved  one,  the  greater  force  - 
of  the  metaphor,  consequent  on  its  greater  brevity,  becomes 
much  more  conspicuous.  If,  drawing  an  analogy  between 
mental  and  physical  phenomena,  we  say,  ''As,  in  passing 
through  the  crystal,  beams  of  white  light  are  decomposed 
into  the  colours  of  the  rainbow  ;  so,  in  traversing  the  soul  of 
the  poet,  the  colourless  rays  of  truth  are  transformed  into 
brightly  tinted  poetry " ;  it  is  clear  that  in  receiving  the 
double  set  of  words  expressing  the  two  halves  of  the  com- 
parison, and  in  carrying  the  one  half  to  the  other,  consider- 
able attention  is  absorbed.  Most  of  this  is  saved,  however, 
by  putting  the  comparison  in  a  metaphorical  form,  thus : 
"The  white  light  of  truth,  in  traversing  the  many  sided 
transparent  soul  of  the  poet,  is  refracted  into  iris-hued 
poetry." 

42.  How  much  is  conveyed  in  a  few  words  by  the  help  of 
the  Metaphor,  and  how  vivid  the  effect  consequently  pro- 
duced, may  be  abundantly  exemplified.  From  'A  Life 
Drama'  may  be  quoted  the  phrase,    - 

"  I  spear'd  him  with  a  jest," 

as  a  fine  instance  among  the  many  which  that  poem  con- 

1  'Rhetoric,'  Ft.  III.,  Chap.  2,  §  3. 


26  The  Philosophy  of  Style. 

tains.     A  passage  in  the  '  Prometheus  Unbound/  of  Shelley, 
displays  the  power  of  the  metaphor  to  great  advantage : 

"  Methought  among  the  lawns  together 
We  -wandered,  underneath  the  young  gray  dawn, 
And  multitudes  of  dense  white  fleecy  clouds 
Were  wandering,  in  thick  flocks  along  the  mountains 
Shepherded  by  the  slow  unwilling  wind." 

This  last  expression  is  remarkable  for  the  distinctness  with 
which  it   realizes  the  features  of  the  scene  :  bringing  the 
mind,  as  it  were,  by  a  bound  to  the  desired  conception. 
43.   But  a  limit  is  put  to  the  advantageous  use  of  the 

/  Metaphor,  by   the  condition   that   it   must  be  sufficiently  ^ 
simple  to  be  understood  from  a  hint.     Evidently,  if  there. 
be  any  obscurity  in  the  meaning  or  application  of   it,  no 
economy  of  attention  will  be  gained  ;  but  rather  the  reverse. 

l_  Hence,  when  the  comparison  is  complex,  it  is  usual  to  have 
.recourse  to  the  Simile.  There  is,  however,  a  species  of 
figure,  sometimes  classed  under  Allegory,  but  which  might, 
perhaps,  be  better  called  Compound  Metaphor,  that  enables 
us  to  retain  the  brevity  of  the  metaphorical  form  even 
where  the  analogy  is  intricate.  This  J^-jdone  by.  indicating, 
the  application  of  the  figure  at  the  outset,  and  then  leaving 
the  mind  to  continue  the  parallel.^  Emerson  has  employed  it 
with  great  effect  in  the  first  of  his  'Lectures  on  the  Times': 
—  "The  main  interest  which  any  aspects  of  the  Times 
can  have  for  us,  is  the  great  spirit  which  gazes  through 
them,  the  light  which  they  can  shed  on  the  wonderful  ques- 
tions. What  are  we,  and  Whither  we  tend?  We  do  not 
wish  to  be  deceived.  Here  we  drift,  like  white  sail  across 
the  wild  ocean,  now  bright  on  the  wave,  now  darkling  in  the 
trough  of  the  sea ;  but  from  what  port  did  we  sail  ?     Who 

1  Kot  uncommon  in  Shakespeare,  as,  for  example,  the  followiug  from 
'  Hamlet,'  IV.,  2 :  —  "  But  siich  officers  do  the  king  best  service  in  the  end: 
he  keeps  them,  as  an  ape  doth  nuts,  in  the  corner  of  his  jaw ;  first  mouth'd 
to  be  last  swallowed." 


Causes  of  Force  in  Language.  27 

knows  ?  Or  to  what  port  are  we  bound  ?  Who  knows  ? 
There  is  no  one  to  tell  us  but  such  poor  weather-tossed 
mariners  as  ourselves,  whom  we  speak  as  we  pass,  or  who 
have  hoisted  some  signal,  or  floated  to  us  some  letter  in  a 
bottle  from  far.  But  what  know  they  more  than  we  ?  They 
also  found  themselves  on  this  wondrous  sea.  No ;  from  the 
older  sailors  nothing.  Over  all  their  speaking  trumpets 
the  gray  sea  and  the  loud  winds  answer,  Kot  in  us ;  not  in 
Time." 

44.  The  division  of  the  Simile  from  the  Metaphor  is  by 
no  means  a  definite  one.  Between  the  one  extreme  in 
which  the  two  elements  of  the  comparison  are  detailed  at 
full  length  and  the  analogy  pointed  out,  and  the  other 
extreme  in  which  the  comparison  is  implied  instead  of 
stated,  come  intermediate  forms,  in  which  the  comparison 
is  partly  stated  and  partly  implied.  For  instance :  — " 
"  Astonished  at  the  performances  of  the  English  plow,  the 
Hindoos  paint  it,  set  it  up,  and  worship  it;  thus  turning  a 
tool  into  an  idol:  linguists  do  the  same  with  language." 
There  is  an  evident  advantage  in  leaving  the  reader  or 
hearer  to  complete  the  figure.  And  generally  these  inter- 
mediate  forms  are  good  in  proportion  as  they  do  this; 
provided  the  mode  of  completing  it  be  obvious. 

45.  Passing  over  much  that  may  be  said  of  like  purport 
upon  Hyperbole,  Personification,  Apostrophe,  &c.,  let  us 
close  our  remarks  upon  construction  by  a  typical  example. 
The  general  principle  which  has  been  enunciated  is,  that 
other  things  equal,  the  force  of  all  verbal  forms  and  4 
;iii:iiiL,^enients  is  great,  in  proportion  as  the  time  and  mental  ; 
clVort  they  demaiid  from  tlie  recipient  is  small.  The  corol- 
laries fi-om  this  general  principle  have  been  severally  illus- ' 

jtrated;  and  it  has  been  shown  that  the  relative  goodness  oi  - 
any  two  modes  of  expressing  an  idea,  may  be  determined 
by  observing  which  requires  the  shortest  process  of  thought 
for  its  comprehension.     But  though  conformity  in  particu-  ^ 


28  The  Philosophy  of  Style. 

lar  points  has  been  exemplified,  no  cases  of  complete  con- 
formity have  yet  been  quoted.  It  is  indeed  difficult  to  find 
them ;  for  the  English  idiom  does  not  commonly  permit 
the  order  which  theory  dictates.  A  few,  however,  occur  in 
Ossian.  Here  is  one :  —  "As  autumn's  dark  storms  pour 
from  two  echoing  hills,  so  towards  each  other  approached 
the  heroes.  As  two  dark  streams  from  high  rocks  meet  and 
mix,  and  roar  on  the  plain :  loud,  rough,  and  dark  in  battle 
meet  Lochlin  and  Inisfail.  ...  As  the  troubled  noise  of 
the  ocean  when  roll  the  waves  on  high ;  as  the  last  peal  of 
the  thunder  of  heaven ;  such  is  noise  of  the  battle." 

46.  Except  in  the  position  of  the  verb  in  the  first  two 
similes,  the  theoretically  best  arrangement  is  fully  carried 
out  in  each  of  these  sentences.  The  simile  comes  before 
the  qualified  image,  the  adjectives  before  the  substantives, 
the  predicate  and  copula  before  the  subject,  and  their 
respective  complements  before  them.  That  the  passage 
is  open  to  the  charge  of  being  bombastic  proves  nothing ;  or 
rather,  proves  our  case.  Eor  what  is  bombast  but  a  force 
of  expression  too  great  for  the  magnitude  of  the  ideas 
embodied  ?  All  that  may  rightly  be  inferred  is,  that  only 
in  very  rare  cases,  and  then  only  to  produce  a  climax,  should 
all  the  conditions  of  effective  expression  be  fulfilled. 

V.    Suggestion  as  a  Means  of  Economy. 

47.  Passing  on  to  a  more  complex  application  of  the 
doctrine  with  which  we  set  out,  it  must  now  be  remarked, 
that  not  only  in  the  structure  of  sentences,  and  the  use  of 
figures  of  speech,  may  economy  of  the  recipient's  mental 
energy  be  assigned  as  the  cause  of  force;  but-ihat  in  the 
choice,  and  arrangement  of  the  minor  images,  out  of  which 
some  large  thought  is  to  be  built  up,  we  may  trace  the  same 
condition  to  effect.  To  select  from  the  sentiment,  scene,  or 
event,  described^  those  typical  elements  which  carry  many 
othersa]^ng_jwJth_thenij    and  so,  by  saying  a  few  things 


Causes  of  Force  in  Language.  29 

but  suggesting  manj[^Jo   abridge  the   description;    is  the 
_secret  of   producing  a  vivid  impression.^     An  extract  from 
Tennyson's  '  Mariana '  will  well  illustrate  this  : 

' '  All  day  -within  the  dreamy  house, 
The  door  upon  the  hinges  creaked, 
The  blue  fly  sung  i'  the  pane  ;  the  mouse 
Behind  the  mouldering  wainscot  shrieked, 
Or  from  the  crevice  peered  about." 

48.  The  several  circumstances  here  specified  bring  with 
them  many  appropriate  associations.  Our  attention  is 
rarely  drawn-  by  the  buzzing  of  a  fly  in  the  window,  save 
when  everything  is  still.  While  the  inmates  are  moving 
about  the  house,  mice  usually  keep  silence ;  and  it  is  only 
when  extreme  quietness  reigns  that  they  peep  from  their 
retreats.-  Hence  each  of  the  facts  mentioned,  presupposing 
numerous  others,  calls  up  these  with  more  or  less  distinct- 
ness ;  and  revives  the  feeling  of  dull  solitude  with  which 
they  are  connected  in  our  experience.  Were  all  the_se..  facts 
_detailed  instead  of  suggested^  the  attention  would  be  so 
frittered  away  that  little  impression  of  dreariness  would  be 
produced.  Similarly  in  other  cases.  Whatever  the  nature 
of' the  thought  to  be  conveyed,  this  skilful  selection  of  a 
few  particulars  which  imply  the  rest,  is  the  key  to  success. 
In  the  choice  of  component  ideas,  as  in  the  choice  of  ex- 
pressions, the  aim  must  be  to  convey  the  greatest  quantity  y_ 
of_tliQughts  with  the  smallest  quantity  of  words. 

49.  The  same  principle  may  in  some  cases  be  advanta-^ 
geously  carried  yet  further,  by  indirectly  suggesting  some 
entirely  distinct  thought  in  addition  to  the  one  expressed. 
Thus,  if  we  say,  "  The  head  of  a  good  classic  is  as  full  of 
ancient  myths,  as  that  of  a  servant-girl  of  ghost  stories " ; 

1  The  following  sentence  occurs  at  this  point  in  the  Westminster  Review 
text:  —  "  Thus  if  we  say,  Real  nobility  is  '  not  transferable ' ;  besides  the  one 
idea  expressed  several  arc;  implied,  and  as  these  can  be  thought  much 
sooner  than  they  can  be  put  in  words,  there  is  gain  in  omitting  them." 


30  The  Philosophy  of  Style. 

it  is  manifest  that  besides  the  fact  asserted,  there  is  an  im- 
plied opinion  respecting  the  small  value  of  classical  knowl- 
edge: and  as  this  implied  opinion  is  recognized  much  sooner 
than  it  can  be  put  into  words,  there  is  gain  in  omitting  it. 

jii  dtlici-  cases,  again,  great  effect_is  ^produced  by  an  overt 
omission ;  .provided  the  nature  of  the  idea  left  out  is  ob- 

„yiaus.  A  good  instance  of  this  occurs  in  '  Heroes  and  Hero- 
worship.'  After  describing  the  way  in  which  Burns  was 
sacrificed  to  the  idle  curiosity  of  Lion-hunters — people  who 
came  not  out  of  sympathy,  but  merely  to  see  him  —  people 
who  sought  a  little  amusement,  and  who  got  their  amuse- 
ment while  "  the  Hero's  life  went  for  it ! "  Carlyle  suggests 
a  parallel  thus:  '^Kichter  says,  in  the  Island  of  Sumatra 
there  is  a  kind  of  '  Light-chafers,'  large  Fire-flies,  which 
j^eople  stick  upon  spits,  and  illuminate  the  ways  with  at 
night.  Persons  of  condition  can  thus  travel  with  a  pleasant 
radiance,  which  they  much  admire.  Great  honour  to  the 
Fire-flies!     But  —  !  —  " 

vi.    The  Effect  of  Poetry  explained. 

50.  Before  inquiring  whether  the  law  of  effect,  thus  far 
traced,  explains  the  superiority  of  poetry  to  prose,  it  will 
be  needful  to  notice  some  supplementary  causes  of  force  in 
expression,  that  have  not  yet  been  mentioned.  These  are 
not,  properly  speaking,  additional  causes  \  but  rather  sec- 
ondary ones,  originating  from  those  already  specified — 
reflex  results  of  them.     In  the  first  place,  then,  we  may 

Temark  that  mentel_excit£iaenLspontaReDusly  prompts,  t^ 
use  of  those  forms  of  speech  which  have  been  pointed  oiit. 

uas  the  most  effective.,  "Out  with  him!"^  "Away  with 
him  ! "  are  the  natural  utterances  of  angry  citizens  at  a  dis- 
turbed meeting.  A  voyager,  describing  a  terrible  storm  he 
had  witnessed,  would  rise  to  some  such  climax  as — "Crack 

1  "  Put  him  out !  "  is  the  form  most  commonly  heard  iu  this  country. 


Causes  of  Force  in  Language.  31 

went  the  ropes  and  clowu  came  the  mast."     Astonishment 
may  be  heard  expressed  in  the  phrase  —  "  Never  was  there 
such  a  sight ! "     All  of  which  sentences  are,  it  will  be  ob-" 
served,  constructed  after   the  direct  type.      Again,  every 
one  knows  that   excited   persons   are   given  to   figures  of"' 
speech.    The  vituperation  of  the^vulgar  abouiids  with  them  :  -i 
often,   indeed,   consists    of   little    else.     "Beast,"    "brute," 
"gallows  rogue,"  "cut-throat  villain,"  these,  and  other  like 
metaphors  and  metaphorical  epithets,  at  once  call  to  mind  a 
street  quarrel.     Further,  it   may  be  noticed  that  extreme  _-i 
brevity  is    another   characteristic  .of   passionate   language^*- 
The  sentences  are  generally  incompletej  the  particles  are 
omitted  ;*  and  frequently  important  words  are  left  to  be 
gathered  from  the  context.     Great  admiration  does  not  vent  '* 
itself  in  a  precise  jDroposition,  as  —  "It  is  beautiful";  but 
in  the  simple  exclamation,  —  "  Beautiful ! "     He  who,  when 
reading  a  lawyer's  letter,  should  say,  "  Vile  rascal! "  would 
^e_  thought  angry;  while,  "He  is  a  vile  rascal !  "  Avould  im- 
ply comparative  coolness.     Thus  we  see  that  alike  in  the 
order  of  the  words,  in  the  frequent  use  of  figures,  and  in 
extreme  conciseness,  the  natural  utterances  of  excitement 
conform   to   the  theoretical  conditions  of   forcible  expres- 
sion. 

51.    Hence,  then,  the  higher  forms  of  speech  acquire  a*-""' 
secondary   strength   from    association.     Having,   in   actual     ^ 
life,  habitually  heard  them  in  connection  with  vivid  mental 
impressions,  and  having  been  accustomed  to  meet  with  them 
in  the  most  powerful  writing,  they  come  to  have  in  them- 
selves a  species  of  force.     The  emotions  that  have  from 
time  to  time  been  produced  by  the  strong  thoughts  wrapped 
up  in  these  forms,  are  partially  aroused  by  the  forms  them- 
selves.    They  create  a  certain  degree  of  animation;   they    ^ 
induce   a   preparatory   sympathy,   and  when    the    striking 
ideas  looked   for  are  reached,  they  are  the  more  vividly     , 
realized. 


32  The  Philosophy  of  Style. 

52.    The    continuous   use  of   these  modes  of  expressic 
that  are  alike  forcible  in  themselves  and  forcible  from  their 
associations,  produces  tlie  peculiarly  impressive  species  of 
composition  which  we  call  poetry.     Poetry,  we  shall  find, 
habitually   adopts   those    symbols    of   thought,    and   those 
methods  of  using  them,  which  instinct  and  analysis  agree 
in  choosing  as  most  effective,  and  becomes  poetry  by  virtue 
of  doing  this.     On  turning  back  to  the  various  specimens 
that  have  been  quoted,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  direct  or 
inverted  form  of  sentence  predominates  in  them ;  and  that 
to  a  degree  quite  inadmissible  in   prose.     And  not  only  in 
the  frequency,  but  in  what  is  termed  the  violence  of  the 
inversions,  will  this  distinction  be  remarked.     In  the  abun- 
dant use  of  figures,  again,  we  may  recognize  the  same  truth. 
Metaphors,  similes,  hyperboles,  and  personifications,  are  the 
poet's  colours,  which  he  has  liberty  to  employ  almost  with- 
out limit.     We  characterize  as  "poetical"  the  prose  which 
uses  these  appliances  of  language  with  any  frequency,  and 
condemn  it  as  "  over  florid  "  or  "  affected  "  long  before  they 
occur  with  the  profusion  allowed  in  verse.     Further,  let  it 
be  remarked  that  in  brevity  —  the  other  requisite  of  forci- 
ble expression  which  theory  points  out,  and  emotion  spon- 
taneously   fulfils  —  poetical    phraseology  similarly   differs 
from   ordinary   phraseology.      Imperfect   periods   are   fre- 
quent;   elisions   are   perpetual;    and   many   of   the   minor 
words,  which  would  be  deemed  essential  in  prose,  are  dis- 
pensed with. 

53.  Thus  poetry,  regarded  as  a  vehicle  of  thought,  is 
especially  impressive  partly  because  it  obeys  all  the  laws 
of  effective  speech,  and  partly  because  in  so  doing  it  imitates 
the  natural  utterances  of  excitement.  While  the  matter 
embodied  is  idealized  emotion,  the  vehicle  is  the  idealized 
language  of  emotion.  As  the  musical  composer  catches  the 
cadences  in  which  our  feelings  of  joy  and  sympathy,  grief 
and  despair,  vent  themselves,  and  out  of  these  germs  evolves 


€auses  of  Force  in  Language.  33 

4tielodies  suggesting  higher  phases  of  these  feelings ;  *  so, 
the  poet  develops  from  the  typical  expressions  in  which 
men  utter  passion  and  sentiment,  those  choice  forms  of 
verbal  combination  in  which  concentrated  passion  and  senti- 
ment may  be  fitly  presented.  ^^ 

54.  There  is  one  peculiarity  of  poetry  conducing  much  to 
its  effect  —  the  peculiarity  which  is  indeed  usually  thought 
its  characteristic  one  —  still  remaining  to  be  considered : 
we  mean  its  rhythmical  structure.  This,  improbable  though 
it  seems,  will  be  found  to  come  under  the  same  generaliza- 
tion with  the  others.  Like  each  of  them,  it  is  an  idealiza- 
tion of  the  natural  language  of  strong  emotion,  which  is  "^ 
known  to  be  more  or  less  metrical  if  the  emotion  be  not  too 
violent;  and  like  each  of  them  it  is  an  economy  of  the 
reader's  or  hearer's  attention.  In  the  peculiar  tone  and  -^ 
manner  we  adopt  in  uttering  versified  language,  may  be 
discerned  its  relationship  to  the  feelings ;  and  the  pleasure 

■which  its  measured  movement  gives  us,  is  ascribable  to  the  -, 
comparative  ease  with  which  words  metrically  arranged  can 
be  recognized. 

55.  This  last  position  will  scarcely  be  at  once  admitted ; 
but  a  little  explanation  will  show  its  reasonableness.  For 
if,  as  we  have  seen,  there  is  an  expenditure  of  mental 
energy  in  the  mere  act  of  listening  to  verbal  articulations, 

•  or  in  that  silent  repetition  of  them  which  goes  on  in  reading  ^ 
—  if  the  perceptive  faculties  must  be  in  active  exercise  to 
identify  every  syllable  —  then,  any  mode  of  so  combining  -\ 
words  as  to  present  a  regular  recurrence  of  certain  traits 

1  For  Spencer's  views  on  tlie  relation  of  music  to  speech-tunes,  see  his 
essay  on  the  '  Origin  and  Function  of  Music '  in  '  Essays,  Scientific,  Politi- 
cal, and  Speculative  ' ;  his  recent  paper  on  the  '  Origin  of  Music '  in  Mind 
for  October,  ISJK);  tlie  discussion  by  R.  Wallaschek  and  J.  McK.  Cattell  in 
Mind  for  July,  1891 ;  and  Cliap.  21  of  Gurney's  '  Power  of  Sound.' 

2  There  has  been  much  discussion  over  this  point.  See  Bain,  '  Senses 
and  Intellei't,'pp. .'^45,353;  Strieker, '  StudieniibcrdieSprachvorstellungen'; 
Revue  Pkilosvijltique,  \'ol.  l(j,  p.  405;   Vol.  18,  p.  (i85;  and  Vol.  19,  p.  118. 


34  The  Philosophy  of  Style. 

which  the  mind  can  anticipate,  will  dinnnisli  that  strain 
upon  the  attention  required  by  the  total  irregularity  of 
prose. ^  Just  as  the  body,  in  receiving  a  series  of  varying 
concussions,  must  keep  the  muscles  ready  to  meet  the  most 
violent  of  them,  as  not  knowing  when  such  may  come ;  so, 
the  mind  in  receiving  unarranged  articulations,  must  keep 
its  perceptives  active  enough  to  recognize  the  least  easily 
caught  sounds.  And  as,  if  the  concussions  recur  in  a  deli» 
nite  order,  the  body  may  husband  its  forces  by  adjusting  the 
resistance  needful  for  each  concussion ;  so,  if  the  syllables 
be  rhythmically  arranged,  the  mind  may  economize  its 
energies  by  anticipating  the  attention  required  for  each 
syllable.^ 

56.  Far-fetched  though  this  idea  will  perhaps  be  thought, 
a  little  introspection  will  countenance  it.  That  we  do  take 
advantage  of  metrical  language  to  adjust  our  perceptive 
faculties  to  the  force  of  the  expected  articulations,  is  clear 
from  the  fact  that  we  are  balked  by  halting  versification. 
Much  as  at  the  bottom  of  a  flight  of  stairs,  a  step  more  or 
less  than  we  counted  upon  gives  us  a  shock ;  so,  too,  does  a 
misplaced,  accent  or  a  supernumerary  syllable.  In  the  one 
case,  we  knoio  that  there  is  an  erroneous  preadjustment ; 
and  we  can  scarcely  doubt  that  there  is  one  in  the  other. 
But  if  we  habitually  preadjust  our  perceptions  to  the  meas- 
ured movement  of  verse,  the  physical  analogy  above  given 
renders  it  probable  that  by  so  doing  we  economize  atten- 


1  Good  prose  is  far  from  being  totally  irregular.  It  has  a  large  rhythm 
peculiar  to  itself  which  is  difficult  to  define,  but  even  with  an  untrained 
ear,  easy  to  perceive.  The  day-laborer  making  his  way  through  a  news- 
paper article  will  often  complain  that  "the  writing  doesn't  run  smooth." 
He  means  that  the  prose-rhythm  is  defective.  Consult  on  this  point, 
Saintsbury's  'Specimens  of  English  Prose  Style,'  Introduction;  Steven- 
son's essay  on  '  Style  in  Literature,'  Contemporary  Review,  Vol.  47,  p.  548; 
Ellis's  '  On  the  Physical  Constituents  of  Accent  and  Emphasis '  in  Transac- 
tions of  the  English  Philological  Society  for  1873-4,  pp.  113-164. 

2  See  Appendix  A. 


Causes  of  Force  in  Language.  35 

tioii ;   and  hence  that  metrical  language  is  more  effective 
than  prose,  because  it  enables  us  to  do  this.^ 

57.  Were  there  space,  it  might  be  worth  while  to  inquire 
whether  the  pleasure  we  take  in  rhyme,  and  also  that 
which  we  take  in  euphony,  are  not  partly  ascribable  to  the 
same  general  cause. 

1  "  What  the  rhythm  of  the  dance  is  to  our  muscular  energies,  the  rhythm 
of  poetry  and  music  is  to  tlie  ear.  Its  main  constituent  as  a  pleasure  is  the 
regularity  of  its  occurrence  and  the  consequent  possibility  of  relaxing  our 
attention  to  the  accentuation  or  the  arrangement  of  chords.  While  sylla- 
bles irregularly  thrown  together  require  a  certain  amount  of  jvimping  from 
point  to  point  4n  the  auditory  perception,  syllables  placed  in  a  regular  order 
of  short  and  long  allow  us  to  withdraw  the  attention  from  their  accent  and 
to  expect  a  continuance  of  the  same  harmonious  and  easily  followed  suc- 
cession. !Many  familiar  facts  concur  to  justify  this  explanation.  In 
attempting  for  the  first  time  to  read  a  perfectly  new  metre,  it  is  sometimes 
a  few  minutes  before  we  fall  into  the  swing  of  it,  as  we  phrase  it;  that  is, 
before  our  auditory  apparatus  accommodates  itself  to  the  new  mode  of 
recurrence."  —  Grant  Allen,  'Physiological  iEsthetics,'  p.  11.5. 

"  The  members  or  clauses  and  the  periods  themselves  should  be  neither 
truncated  nor  too  long.  If  they  are  too  short,  they  often  make  a  hearer 
stumble ;  for  if,  while  he  is  hurrying  on  to  the  completion  of  the  measure 
or  rhythm,  of  which  he  has  a  definite  notion  in  his  mind,  he  is  suddenly 
pulled  up  by  a  pause  on  the  part  of  the  speaker,  there  will  necessarily 
follow  a  sort  of  stumble  in  consequence  of  the  sudden  check."  —  Aristotle, 
'  Rhetoric,'  III.  9,  Welldon's  Trans. 


PART   II. 

CAUSES   OF  FORCE  IN  LANGUAGE  WHICH  DEPEND  UPON 
ECONOMY   OF   THE   MENTAL   SENSIBILlTIEs/ 

i.    The  Law  of  Mental  Exhaustion  and  Repair. 

58.  A  few  paragraphs  only,  can  be  devoted  to  a  second 
division  of  our  subject  that  here  presents  itself.  To  pursue 
in  detail  the  laws  of  effect,  as  applying  to  the  larger 
features  of  composition,  would  carry  us  beyond  our  limits. 
But  we  may  briefly  indicate  a  further  aspect  of  the  general 
principle  hitherto  traced  out,  and  hint  a  few  of  its  wider 
applications. 

59.  Thus  far,  then,  we  have  considered  only  those 
causes  of  force  in  language  which  depend  upon  economy  of 
the  mental  energies :  we  have  now  to  glance  at  those  which 
depend  upon  economy  of  the  mental  sensibilities.  Question- 
able though  this  division  may  be  as  a  psychological  one,  it 
will  yet  serve  roughly  to   indicate  the  remaining  field  of 

r  investigation.  It  will  suggest  that  besides  considering  the 
extent  to  which  any  faculty  or  group  of  faculties  is  tasked 
in  receiving  a  form  of  words  and  realizing  its  contained 
idea,  we  have  to  consider  the  state  in  which  this  faculty  or 
group  of  faculties  is  left ;  and  how  the  reception  of  subse- 

^  quent  sentences  and  images  will  be  influenced  by  that  state. 
Without  going  at  length  into  so  wide  a  topic  as  the  exercise 
of  faculties  and  its  reactive  effects,  it  will  be  sufficient  here 
to  call  to  mind  that  every  faculty  (when  in  a  state  of  nor- 
mal activity)  is  most  capable  at  the  outset ;  and  tha%  the 
change  in  its  condition,  which  ends  in  what  we  term 
36 


Causes  of  Force  in  Language.  37 

exhaustion,  begins  simultaneously  witli  its  exercise.  This 
generalization,  with  which  we  are  all  familiar  in  our  bodily 
experiences,  and  which  our  daily  language  recognizes  as 
true  of  the  mind  as  a  whole,  is  equally  true  of  each  mental 
power,  from  the  simplest  of  the  senses  to  the  most  complex 
of  the  sentiments.  If  we  hold  a  flower  to  the  nose  for 
long,  we  become  insensible  to  its  scent.  We  say  of  a  very 
brilliant  flash  of  lightning  that  it  blinds  us ;  which  means 
that  our  eyes  have  for  a  time  lost  their  ability  to  appreciate 
light.  After  eating  a  quantity  of  honey,  we  are  apt  to 
think  our  tea  is  without  sugar.  The  phrase  "a  deafening 
roar,"  implies  that  men  find  a  very  loud  sound  temporarily 
incapacitates  them  for  hearing  faint  ones.  To  a  hand 
which  has  for  some  time  carried  a  heavy  body,  small 
bodies  afterwards  lifted  seem  to  have  lost  their  weight. 
Now,  the  truth  at  once  recognized  in  these,  its  extreme 
manifestations,  may  be  traced  throughout.  It  may  be 
shown  that  alike  in  the  reflective  faculties,  in  the  imagina- 
tion, in  the  perceptions  of  the  beautiful,  the  ludicrous,  the 
sublime,  in  the  sentiments,  the  instincts,  in  all  the  mental 
powers,  however  we  may  classify  them  —  action  exhausts ;  i 
and  that  in  proportion  as  the  action  is  violent,  the  subse- 
quent prostration  is  great. 

60.  Equally,  throughout  the  whole  nature,  may  be  traced 
the  law  that  exercised  faculties  are  ever  tending  to  resume K  ~\ 
their  original  state.  Not  only  after  continued  rest,  do  they  . 
regain  their  full  power  —  not  only  do  brief  cessations  par- 
tially reinvigorate  them ;  but  even  while  they  are  in  action, 
the  resulting  exhaustion  is  ever  being  neutralized.  The 
two  processes  of  waste  and  repair  go  on  together.  Hence 
with  faculties  habitually  exercised  —  as  the  senses  of  all 
persons,  or  the  muscles  of  any  one  who  is  strong  —  it  hap- 
pens that,  during  moderate  activity,  the  repair  is  so  nearly 
equal  to  the  waste,  that  the  diminution  of  power  is  scarcely 
appreciable ;  and  it  is  only  when  the  activity  has  been  long 


38  The  Philosophy  of  Style. 

continued,  or  has  been  very  violent,  that  the  repair  becomes 
so  far  in  arrear  of  the  waste  as  to  produce  a  perceptible 
prostration.  In  all  cases,  however,  when,  by  the  action  of 
a  faculty,  waste  has  been  incurred,  some  lapse  of  time 
must  take  place  before  full  efficiency  can  be  reacquired; 
and  this  time  must  be  long  in  proportion  as  the  waste  has 
been  great.^ 

« 

ii.   Explanation  of  Climax,  Antithesis,  and  Anticlimax. 

61.  Keeping  in  mind  these  general  truths,  we  shall  be  in 
a  condition  to  imderstand  certain  causes  of  effect  in  compo- 
sition now  to  be  considered.  Every  perception  received,  and 
every  conception  realized,  entailing  some  amount  of  wa^te  — 
or,  as  Liebig  would  say,  some  change  of  matter  in  the  brain ; 
and  the  efficiency  of  the  faculties  subject  to  this  waste-being 
thereby  temporarily,  though  often  but  momentarily,  dimin- 
ished ;  the  resulting  partial  inability  must  affect  the  acts  of 
perception  and  conception  that  immediately  succeed.  And 
hence  we  may  expect  that  the  vividaess  with  which  images 
are  realized  will,  in  many  cases,  depend  on  the  order  of 
their  presentation :  even  when  one  order  is  as  convenient  to 
the  understanding  as  the  other. 

62.  There  are  sundry  facts 'which  alike  illustrate  this, 
and  are  explained  by  it.  Climax  is  one  of  them.  The 
marked  effect  obtained  by  placing  last  thfrdnost  striking  of 
any  series  of  images,  and  the  weakness  —  often  the  ludicrous 
weakness  —  produced  by  reversing  this  arrangement,  de- 
pends on  the  general  law  indicated.  As  immediately  after 
looking  at  the  sun  we  cannot  perceive  the  light  of  a  fire, 
while  by  looking  at  the  fire  first  and  the  sun  afterwards  we 
can  perceive  both ;  so,  after  receiving  a  brilliant,  or  weighty, 
or  terrible  thought,  we  cannot  appreciate  a  less  brilliant, 

1  For  an  expansion  of  these  ideas,  with  many  examples,  see  Grant 
Allen's  'Physiological  Esthetics,'  Chaps.  1,  2. 


Causes  of  Force  in  Language.  39 

less  weighty,  or  less  terrible  one,  while,  by  reversing  the 
order,  we  can  appreciate  each.  In  Antithesis,  again,  we  may 
recognize  the  same  general  truth.  The  opposition  of  two 
thoughts  that  are  the  reverse  of  each  other  in  some  promi-'«c 
nent  trait,  insures  an  impressive  effect;  and  does  this  by 
giving  a  momentary  relaxation  to  the  faculties  addressed.  -^ 
If,  after  a  series  of  images  of  an  ordinary  character,  appeal- 
ing in  a  moderate  degree  to  the  sentiment  of  reverence,  or 
approbation,  or  beauty,  the  mind  has  presented  to  it  a  very 
insignificant,  a  very  unworthy,  or  a  very  ugly  image ;  the 
faculty  of  reverence,  or  approbation,  or  beauty,  as  the  case 
may  be,  having  for  the  time  nothing  to  do,  tends  to  resume 
its  full  power ;  and  will  immediately  afterwards  appreciate 
a  vast,  admirable,  or  beautiful  image  better  than  it  would 
otherwise  do.  Conversely,  where  the  idea  of  absurdity  duel 
to  extreme  insignificance  is  to  be  produced, -it  maybe  greatly 
intensified  by  placing  it  after  something  highly  impressive :, 
especially  if  the  form  of  phrase  implies  that  something  still 
more  impressive  is  coming.  A  good  illustration  of  the  effect 
gained  by  thus  presenting  a  petty  idea  to  a  consciousness 
that  has  not  yet  recovered  from  the  shock  of  an  exciting 
one,  occurs  in  a  sketch  by  Balzac.  His  hero  writes  to  a 
mistress  who  has  cooled  towards  him  the  following  letter : 

".Madame,  —  Votre  conduite  m'etonne  autant  qu'elle 
m'afl&ige.  Non  contente  de  me  dechirer  le  coeur  par  vos 
dedains,  vous  avez  I'indelicatesse  de  me  retenir  une  brosse 
a  dents,  que  mes  moyens  ne  me  permettent  pas  de  remplacer, 
mes  proprietes  etant  grevees  d'hypotheques. 

"Adieu,  trop  belle  et  trop  ingrate  amis !  Puissions-nous 
nous  revoir  dans  un  monde  meilleur ! 

"  Charles-Edouard." 

63.   Thus  we  see  that  the  phenomena  of  Climax,  Antithe-    "? 
sis,  and  Anticlimax,  alike  result  from  this  general  principle.  _i 


40  The  Philosophy  of  Style. 

Improbable  as  these  momentary  variations  in  susceptibility- 
may  seem,  we  cannot  doubt  their  occurrence  when  we  con- 
template the  analogous  variations  in  the  susceptibility  of  the 
senses,  Eeferring  once  more  to  phenomena  of  vision,  every 
one  knows  that  a  patch  of  black  on  a  white  ground  looks 
blacker,  and  a  patch  of  white  on  a  black  ground  looks  whiter, 
than  elsewhere.  As  the  blackness  and  the  whiteness  must 
really  be  the  same,  the  only  assignable  cause  for  this  is  a 
difference  in  their  actions  upon  us,  dependent  upon  the 
different  states  of  our  faculties.  It  is  simply  a  visual  an- 
tithesis.^ 

iii.   Need  of  Variety. 

64.  But  this  extension  of  the  general  principle  of  economy 
—  this  further  condition  to  effective  composition,  that  the 
sensitiveness  of  the  faculties  must  be  continuously  hus- 
banded—  includes  much  more  than  has  been  yet  hinted. 
It  implies  not  only  that  certain  arrangements  and  certain 
juxtapositions  of  connected  ideas  are  best;  but  that  some 
modes  of  dividing  and  presenting  a  subject  will  be  more 
striking  than  others ;  and  that,  too,  irrespective  of  its  logical 
cohesion.  It  shows  why  we  must  progress  from  the  less 
interesting  to  the  more  interesting ;  and  why  not  only  the 
composition  as  a  whole,  but  each  of  its  successive  portions, 
should  tend  towards  a  climax.  At  the  same  time,  it  forbids 
long  continuity  of  the  same  kind  of  thought,  or  repeated 
production  of  like  effects.  It  warns  us  against  the  error 
committed  both  by  Pope  in  his  poems  and  by  Bacon  in  his 
essays  —  the  error,  namely,  of  constantly  employing  forcible 
forms  of  expression :  and  it  points  out  that  as  the  easiest 
posture  by  and  by  becomes  fatiguing,  and  is  with  pleasure 
exchanged  for  one  less   easy,  so,  the  most  perfectly-con- 

1  On  this  point  see  Mr.  E.  B.  Delabarre's  paper  on  'The  Law  of  Con- 
trast,' printed  in  James's  '  Psychology,'  II.,  pp.  13-27. 


Causes  of  Force  in  Language.  41 

structed  sentences  will  soon  weary,  and  relief  will  be  given 
by  using  those  of  an  inferior  kind.^ 

%o.  Further,  we  may  infer  from  it  not  only  that  we  should 
avoid  generally  combining  our  words  in  one  manner,  however 
good,  or  working  out  our  figures  and  illustrations  in  one 
way,  however  telling ;  but  that  we  should  avoid  anything 
like  uniform  adherence,  even  to  the  wider  conditions  of 
effect.  We  should  not  make  every  section  of  our  subject 
progress  in  interest ;  we  should  not  always  rise  to  a  climax. 
As  we  saw  that,  in  single  sentences,  it  is  but  rarely  alloAv- 
able  to  fulfil  all  the  conditions  to  strength ;  so,  in  the  larger 
sections  of  a  composition  we  must  not  often  conform  entirely 
to  the  law  indicated.  We  must  subordinate  the  component 
effect  to  the  total  effect. 

66.  In  deciding  how  practically  to  carry  out  the  principles 
of  artistic  composition,  we  may  derive  help  by  bearing  in 
mind  a  fact  already  pointed  out  —  the  fitness  of  certain 
verbal  arrangements  for  certain  kinds  of  thought.  That  ■ 
constant  variety  in  the  mode  of  presenting  ideas  which  the 
theory  demands,  will  in  a  great  degree  result  from  a  skilful 
adaptation  of  the  form  to  the  matter.  We  saw  how  the  direct  <. 
or  inverted  sentence  is  spontaneously  used  by  excited  people ; 
and  how  their  language  is  also  characterized  by  figures  of 
speech  and  by  extreme  brevity.  Hence  these  may  with 
advantage  predominate  in  emotional  passages ;  and  may 
increase  as  the  emotion  rises.  On  the  other  hand,  for  com-  -^  -, 
plex  ideas,  the  indirect  sentence  seems  the  best  vehicle.  In 
conversation,  the  excitement  produced  by  the  near  approach 
to  a  desired  conclusion,  will  often  show  itself  in  a  series  of 
short,  sharp  sentences ;  Avhile,  in  impressing  a  view  already 
enunciated,  we  generally  make  our  periods  voluminous  by 

1  But  why,  if  they  accomplish  their  purpose,  should  they  be  looked 
upon  as  'iuferior'?  Surely,  tlio  'perfectly  constructed'  sentence  is  the 
one  which  fulfils  its  purpose  on  a  particular  occasion  and  in  a  particular 
connection. 


'42)  The  Philosophy  of  Style. 

piling  thought  upon  thought.  These  natural  modes  of  pro- 
cedure may  serve  as  guides  in  writing.  Keen  observation 
and  skilful  analysis  would,  in  like  manner,  detect  further 
peculiarities  of  expression  produced  by  other  attitudes  of 
mind ;  and  by  paying  due  attention  to  all  such  traits,  a 
writer  possessed  of  sufficient  versatility  might  make  some 
approach  to  a  completely -organized  work. 

iv.    The  Ideal  Writer. 

67.  This  species  of  composition  which  the  law  of  effect 
points  out  as  the  perfect  one,  is  the  one  which  high  genius 
tends  naturally  to  produce.  As  we  found  that  the  kinds  of 
sentences  which  are  theoretically  best,  are  those  generally 
employed  by  superior  minds,  and  by  inferior  minds  when 
excitement  has  raised  them ;  so,  we  shall  find  that  the  ideal 
form  for  a  poem,  essay,  'or  fiction,  is  that  which  the  ideal 
writer  would  evolve  spontaneously.  One  in  whom  the  powers 
of  expression  fully  responded  to  the  state  of  feeling,  would 
unconsciously  use  that  variety  in  the  mode  of  presenting'his 
thoughts,  which  Art  demands.  This  constant  employment 
of  one  species  of  phraseology,  which  all  have  now  to  strive 
against,  implies  an  undeveloped  faculty  of  language.  To 
have  a  specific  style  is  to  be  poor  in  speech.  If  we  remember 
that,  in  the  far  past,  men  had  only  nouns  and  verbs  to  convey 
their  ideas  with,  and  that  from  then  to  now  the  growth  has 
been  towards  a  greater  nunaber  of  implements  of  thought, 
and  consequently  towards  a  greater  complexity  and  variety 
in  their  combinations ;  we  may  infer  that  we  are  now,  in 
our  use  of  sentences,  much  what  the  primitive  man  was  in 
his  use  of  words  ;  and  that  a  continuance  of  the  process  that 
has  hitherto  gone  on,  must  produce  increasing  heterogeneity 
in  our  modes  of  expression.  As  now,  in  a  fine  nature,  the 
play  of  the  features,  the  tones  of  the  voice  and  its  cadences, 
vary  in  harmony  with  every  thought  uttered;   so,  in  one 


Causes  of  Force  in  Language.  43 

possessed  of  a  fully-developed  power  of  speech,  the  mould 
in  which  each  combination  of  words  is  cast  will  similarly 
vary  with,  and  be  appropriate  to  the  sentiment. 

68.  That  a  perfectly-endowed  man  must  unconsciously  ~1 
write  in  all  styles,  we  may  infer  from  considering  how 
styles  originate.  Why  is  Johnson  pompous,  Goldsmith  -i 
simple?  Why  is  one  author  abrupt,  another  rhythmical, 
another  concise  ?  Evidently  in  each  case  the  habitual  mode 
of  utterance  must  depend  upon  the  habitual  balance  of  the 
nature.  The  predominant  feelings  have  by  use  trained  the 
intellect  to_represent  them.  But  while  long,  though  un- 
conscious, discipline  has  made  it  do  this  efficiently,  it  re- 
mains from  lack  of  practice,  incapable  of  doing  the  same  for 
the  less  active  feelings ;  and  when  these  are  excited,  the 
usual  verbal  forms  undergo  but  slight  modifications.  Let 
the  powers  of  speech  be  fully  developed,  however  —  let  the 
ability  of  the  intellect  to  utter  the  einotions  be  complete ;  and 
this  fixity  of  style  will  disappear.  The  perfect  writer  will  -^ 
express  himself  as  Junius,  when  in  the  Junius  frame  of 
mind;  when  he  feels  as  Lamb  felt,  will  use  a  like  familiar 
speech ;  and  will  fall  into  the  ruggedness  of  Carlyle  when 
in  a  Carlylean  mood.  Now  he  will  be  rhythmical  and  now  ' 
irregular ;  here  his  language  will  be  plain  and  there  ornate ; 
sometimes  his  sentences  will  be  balanced  and  at  other  times 
unsyrametrical ;  for  a  while  there  will  be  considerable  same- 
ness, and  then  again  great  variety.  His  mode  of  expression 
naturally  responding  to  his  state  of  feeling,  there  will  flow 
from  his  pen  a  composition  changing  to  the  same  degree 
that  the  aspects  of  his  subject  change.  He  will  thus  with- 
out effort  conform  to  what  we  have  seen  to  be  the  laws  of 
effect.  And  while  his  work  presents  to  the  reader  that 
variety  needful  to  prevent  continuous  exertion  of  the  same 
faculties,  it  will  also  answer  to  the  description  of  all  highly- 
organized  products,  both  of  man  and  of  nature  :  it  will  be 
not  a  series  of  like  parts  simply  placed  in  juxtaposition,  but 


44  The  Philosophy  of  Style. 

one  whole  made  up  of  unlike  parts  that  are  mutually  de- 
pendent.^ 

1  This  is  the  fundamental  principle  with  which,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
editor,  Mr.  Spencer  would  have  done  well  to  open  his  essay.  He  would 
thus  have  brought  his  various  exceptions,  opposing  rules,  supplementary 
principles,  and  so  forth,  under  one  universal  all-pervading  law. 


STYLE. 

\        By  T.  H.  Wright. 
i.   Risum^  of  Spencer's  Essay. 

1.  A  recent  historian  of  Rome,  towards  tlie  close  of  his 
famous  attempt  to  undeceive  the  world  at  large  with 
respect  to  the  genius  of  Cicero,  sums  up  his  argument  in 
the  following  words  :  —  "  Ciceronianism  is  a  problem  which, 
in  fact,  cannot  be  properly  solved,  but  can  only  be  resolved 
into  that  greater  mystery  of  human  nature  —  language,  and 
the  effect  of  language  on  the  mind."  ^ 

2.  These  words  are  suggestive  —  suggestive,  too,  of  a 
wider  question  than  at  first  sight  appears.  That  men  are 
influenced  by  language  at  least  as  much  as  by  ideas ;  that 
power  of  expression  is  intimately  associated  with  mental 
grasp  generally;  even  that  a  fascination  is  exercised  by 
style  to  which  nothing  equivalent  is  found  in  the  accom- 
panying thought  —  these  are  acknowledged  truths,  readily 
granted.  But  it  is  a  most  singular  thing  that  they  are  so 
readily  granted:  it  is  singular  that  the  question  is  not 
oftener  asked  —  Why  is  this  so  ? 

3.  How  is  it  that  language,  which  is  but  the  vehicle  of 
thought,  comes  to  have  a  force  which  is  not  the  mere 
weight  of  that  which  it  carries  ?  Even  where  this  is  not 
the  case,  where  there  is  an  equivalence  of  value  in  both 
style  and  ideas,  great  conceptions  being  nobly  expressed, 
how  is  it  that  the  matter  and  the  form  seem  to  have  inde- 
pendent claims  upon  the  attention  ?     In  a  word,  what  is 

1  Mommsen,  History  of  Rome,  Book  V.,  Chap.  12. 

45 


46  The  Fluloisopliy  of  tStyle. 

that  in  language  Avhicli  is  not  mere  expressiveness  of  the 
obvious  intentions  of  the  writer,  but  is  yet  a  merit  ? 

4.  At  first  sight  there  appears  to  be  a  simple  answer  to 
the  question.  Any  of  the  numerous  treatises  on  style  or 
rhetoric  abound  Avith  rules  for  the  embellishment  of  dis- 
course :  the  reader  learns  the  importance  of  a  choice  of 
fitting  words,  of  the  judicious  use  of  figures  of  speech,  of 
the  effect  of  melodious  sentences  and  suitable  cadences :  he 
is  instructed  in  the  manipulation  of  complex  constructions, 
and  discovers  the  force  of  the  gradation,  the  antithesis,  and 
the  climax :  in  short,  he  is  easily  led  to  the  conclusion  that, 
besides  expressiveness,  language  may  have  the  merit  of 
beauty. 

5.  That  this  distinction  is  a  superficial  one  has  been  shown 
with  great  ability  in  an  article  by  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer  on 
the  '  Philosophy  of  Style.'  He  there  traces  all  excellence 
of  composition  to  two  principles  —  Economy  of  the  Atten- 
tion, and  Economy  of  the  Sensibility  of  the  recipient. 
Ass;iming  that  a  reader  can  have  at  his  command  only  a 
definite  amount  of  power  of  attention,  it  is  clear  that  what- 
ever part  of  this  is  employed  on  the  form  of  a  composition 
must  be  subtracted,  and  leave  so  much  the  less  to  be  occu- 
pied in  the  matter.  In  its  popular  aspect  this  is  a  truth 
familiar  to  all.  If  any  author  is  said  to  have  an  obscure 
style,  it  is  meant  that  his  form  obstructs  his  matter  —  that 
it  absorbs  an  inordinate  amount  of  the  reader's  attention. 
If  he  is  tedious,  it  is  because  his  language,  by  its  monotony 
or  redundancy,  exhausts  our  energies,  and  leaves  us  corre- 
spondingly deficient  in  the  mental  vigour  to  be  devoted  to 
what  he  has  to  say. 

6.  But  Mr.  Spencer  pushes  his  theory  yet  further.  He 
shows,  with  great  ingenuity,  how  various  ornaments  of 
style,  at  first  sight  most  remote  from  mere  utility,  are  in 
reality  but  devices  of  language  which  subserve  the  same 
purpose  of  economizing  attention.     Thus  the  canon  which 


Style.  47 

prefers  words  of  Saxon  to  words  of  Latin  origin  is  justified 
by  the  greater  familiarity  of  the  former,  recalling  the  asso- 
ciations  of  childhood,  and  their  comparative  brevity,  which 
adds  to  their  force  what  it  diminishes  from  the  effort 
required  to  recognize  them.  On  the  other  hand,  the  occa- 
sional effect  of  polysyllabic  words  is  attributed  to  their 
associated  significance :  for  the  effort  involved  in  decipher- 
ing or  using  them,  by  hinting  at  a  corresponding  weighti- 
ness  in  the  things  implied,  gives  a  force  to  an  epithet  which 
may  do  for  a  sentence.  The  same  principle  which  explains 
the  rules  for  choice  of  words  is  also  found  adequate  to  the 
solutidh  of  the  reasons  why  some  one  order  of  words  is 
more  effective  than  another ;  why  certain  sequences  of 
sentences  are  better  than  others ;  what  are  the  respective 
merits  of  the  direct  and  indirect  style ;  and  so  forth.  Then 
follows  an  analysis  of  the  various  figures  of  speech  —  Meta- 
phor, Simile,  and  the  like  —  in  which  their  amenableness  to 
the  same  law  is  established :  and,  finally,  the  applicability 
of  the  theory,  even  to  the  complex  imagery  of  the  poet,  is 
exhibited  in  a  passage  which  it  would  be  an  injustice  to  the 
writer  not  to  quote  at  length : 

7.  "Passing  on  to  a  more  complex  application  of  the 
doctrine  with  which  we  set  out,  it  must  now  be  remarked 
that  not  only  in  the  structure  of  sentences,  and  the  use  of 
figures  of  speech,  may  economy  of  the  recipient's  mental 
energy  be  assigned  as  the  cause  of  force ;  but  that  in  the 
choice  and  arrangement  of  the  minor  images,  out  of  which 
some  large  thought  is  to  be  built  up,  we  may  trace  the 
same  condition  to  effect.  To  select  from  the  sentiment, 
scene,  or  event  described,  those,  typical  elements  which 
carry  many  others  along  with  them  ;  and  so,  by  saying  a 
few  things,  but  suggesting  many,  to-  abridge  the  descrip- 
tion ;  is  the  secret  of  producing  a  vivid  impression.  An 
extract  from  Tennyson's  '  Mariana '  will  well  illustrate 
this : 


48  The  Philosophy  of  Style. 

"  '  All  day  within  the  dreamy  house 
The  door  upon  the  hinges  creaked, 
The  blue-fly  sung  i'  the  pane,  the  mouse 
Behind  the  mouldering  wainscot  shrieked, 
Or  from  the  crevice  peered  about. ' 

The  several  circumstances  liere  specified  bring  with,  them 
many  appropriate  associations.  Our  attention  is  rarely 
drawn  by  the  buzzing  of  a  fly  in  the  window,  save  when 
everything  is  still.  While  the  inmates  are  moving  about 
the  house,  mice  usually  keep  silence ;  and  it  is  only  when 
extreme  quietness  reigns  that  they  peep  from  their  retreats. 
Hence  each  of  the  facts  mentioned,  presupposing  nuinerous 
others,  calls  up  these  with  more  or  less  distinctness ;  and 
revives  the  feeling  of  dull  solitude  with  which  they  are 
connected  in  our  experience.  Were  all  these  facts  detailed, 
instead  of  suggested,  the  attention  woiild  be  so  frittered 
away  that  little  impression  of  dreariness  would  be  produced. 
Similarly  in  other  cases.  Whatever  the  nature  of  the 
thought  to  be  conveyed,  this  skilful  selection  of  a  few 
particulars  which  imply  the  rest  is  the  key  to  success.  In 
the  choice  of  competent  ideas,  as  in  the  choice  of  expres- 
sions, the  aim  must  be  to  convey  the  greatest  quantity  of 
thoughts  with  the  smallest  quantity  of  words." 

8.  But  Mr.  Spencer  does  not  rest  content  with  deducing 
what  may  be  called  the  adventitious  charms  of  poetry  from 
this  principle ;  he  even  thinks  that  its  distinctive  character- 
istic —  the  restrictions  of  metre  —  may  be  explained  by  the 
same  law.  "  The  pleasure,"  he  says,  "  which  its  measured 
movement  gives  us  is  ascribable  to  the  comparative  ease 
with  which  words  metrically  arranged  can  be  recognized." 
Most  people  will  be  startled  at  the  first  sight  of  this  bold 
dictum,  but  Mr.  Spencer  is  not  the  man  to  shrink  from  the 
logical  consequences  of  his  principles,  and  they  lead  to  more 
than  this. 

9.  Any  one  who  has  attentively  read  the  article,  or  even 


Style.  49 

the  brief  resum6  of  it  just  given,  will  liave  seen  that  the 
theory  furnishes  a  canon  for  determining,  with  some  degree 
of  certainty,  which  of  two  styles  is  the  better.  To  quote 
again :  — ''  The  relative  goodness  of  any  two  modes  of  express- 
ing an  idea  may  be  determined  by  observing  which  requires  / 
the  shortest  process  of  thought  for  its  comprehension." 

10.  Clearly,  then,  there  must,  in  every  case,  be  some 
form  of  expression  which  is  absolutely  the  best;  in  other 
words,  there  is  such  a  thing  as  an  ideal  style.  Mr.  Spencer 
accepts  the  conclusion,  but  at  the  same  time  reminds  us 
that  style -must  vary  with  its  subject-matter. 

11.  ''  The  perfect  writer  will  express  himself  as  Junius, 
when  in  the  Junius  frame  of  mind ;  when  he  feels  as  Lamb    . 
felt,  will  use  a  like  familiar  speech ;  and  will  fall  into  the 
ruggedness  of  Carlyle  when  in  a  Carlylean  mood." 

12.  The  reservation  is  a  proper  one,  and  with  it  the 
argument  seems  unimpeachable.  Yet  when  Mr.  Spencer 
throws  the  conclusion  into  the  form  of  an  epigram,  and 
tells  us  that  ''to  have  a  specific  style  is  to  be  poor  in 
speech,"  he  makes  the  utmost  possible  demand  upon  our 
loyalty  to  exact  reasoning.  Like  Adeimantus  in  the  '  Re- 
public,' we  are  "  confounded  by  this  novel  kind  of  draughts- 
playing,  played  with  words  for  counters." 

ii.  Style  the  Imperfect  Expression  of  the  Writer's  Personality. 

13.  But  if  the  foregoing  theory  be  carefully  reviewed,  it 
will  be  seen  that  throughout  it  the  treatment  is  what  may 
be  described  as  objective  rather  than  subjective.  Or,  to 
avoid  words  in  which  there  is  a  degree  of  ambiguity,  the 
definite  product  language  is  more  or  less  isolated  from  the 
agency  using  it,  and  viewed  more  in  relation  to  the  reader's 
than  the  writer's  mind.^    But  there  is  another  aspect  of 

1  The  last  two  paragraphs  of  Spencer's  essay  deal  vrith  the  subjective 
aspect  of  the  theory. 


50  The  PhllosopJiy  of  jStt/le. 

the  relation,  which  cannot  be  left  out  without  producing  a 
result  which  must  be  onesided  and  may  be  inaccurate.  The 
following  pages  will  be  an  attempt  to  supply  this  omission 
by  a  consideration  of  the  nature  of  the  various  devices  of 
language,  regarded  as  the  outcome  of  the  mind  that  employs 
them. 

14.  That  "  to  have  a  specific  style  is  to  be  poor  in  speech  " 
has  not  been  implied  in  the  judgments  which  the  world  has 
from  time  to  time  passed  upon  its  greatest  writers.  Per- 
haps it  would  be  nearer  the  truth  to  say  that  much  in  pro- 
portion as  an  author  has  reached  a  high  eminence  in  his  art 
there  has  been  found  in  his  productions  a  corresponding  ten- 
dency to  an  individuality  of  expression.  Is  it  not  a  com- 
mon complaint  against  inferior  artists,  whether  in  prose  or 
verse,  in  painting  or  music,  that  their  compositions  lack 
character  and  originality?  Uniformity  is  the  distinguish- 
ing feature  of  mediocrity,  while  the  work  of  genius  is  at 
once  recognized  and  attributed  to  the  origin  whose  impress 
it  bears.  And  a  little  reflection  will  show  that  this  is 
exactly  what  is  meant  by  "  style."  Various  tricks  of  voice, 
gesture,  and  dress  are  associated  by  every  one  with  his 
friends,  glimpses  of  the  hidden  self  being  granted  in  such 
half-unnoticed  revelations.  The  chief  value,  indeed,  of  such 
peculiarities  rests  in  the  fact  that  they  are  commonly  un- 
known to  the  man  himself.  For  all  of  us,  even  the  most 
sincere,  are  to  a  certain  extent  actors  in  our  intercourse 
with  others,  and  play  a  part  that  has  been  self-assigned, 
often  without  due  pondering  of  the  player's  power.  Nature, 
however,  peeps  out  in  countless  little  traits  of  character, 
which  find  their  expression  in  language,  habit,  and  even  in 
movements.  By  what  subtle  union  such  tricks  of  manner 
are  linked  with  what  Dr.  Johnson  has  called  "  the  anfrac- 
tuosities  of  the  human  mind "  is  a  curious  and  intricate 
question,  but  no  one  will  doubt  the  fact  of  the  connection. 
"That's  father!"    cries  the  child   as    she  hears  the  well- 


Style.  "'  61 

known  footfall  in  the  hall ;  ''  How  like  the  man ! "  we  ex- 
claim when  some  characteristic  remark  is  reported  to  us.^ 
Spite  of  the  progress  in  complexity  from  a  sound  to  a  sen- 
timent, each  obeys  the  same  law ;  and  the  connection  be- 
tween the  footfall  and  the  foot,  between  the  speech  and  the 
mind  that  conceived  it,  is  one  and  the  same. 

15.  Let  us  follow  out  the  thought  a  little  further.  Not 
only,  to ,  put  the  fact  in  its  popular  aspect,  has  eveiy  one 
his  peculiarities ;  but  there  are  degrees  of  peculiarity  ac- 
companying degrees  of  individuality ;  as  a  man  deviates  in 
character  from  the  type  ordinarily  met  with,  so  are  his 
habits  singular  to  himself,  till  a  point  is  reached  where  the 
personality  is  remarkable,  and  the  behaviour  eccentric. 
Where  such  manners  are  perfectly  unaffected  they  are  a 
reflection  of  a  self  that  stands  alone  among  many,  so  that 
the  common  dictum,  that  genius  is  eccentric,  has  a  philo- 
sophical foundation.^  There  is  no  need  to  linger  on  the 
numerous  and  tolerably  obvious  reservations  which  make 
it  impossible  to  convert  the  proposition,  in  other  words,  to 
infer  unusual  power  from  singularity ;  the  broad  fact  re- 
mains that  where  there  is  that  marked  origing,lity  called 
genius,  it  is  an  originality  not  of  thought,  emotion,  or  pur- 
suits, but  of  the  man. 

16.  The  application  of  this  to  literary  style  is  easy,  and 
will  be  found  to  lead  to  some  interesting  results. 

17.  In  its  powers  of  direct  expression,  language  is  toler- 
ably efficient,  and  were  there  nothing  but  facts,  considered 

1  See  the  remarks  of  Theodore  Watts  (Enrycl.  Brit.  !»th  ed.,  Vol.  19, 
p.  265)  on  the  word  '  wrought,'  which  Shakespeare  puts  into  Othello's 
mouth. 

2  "  A  muddle-headed  person  is  a  genius  spoiled  in  the  making.  I  think 
it  will  he  admitted  tJiat  all  euiinentlij  muddle-headed  persons  have  the 
temperament  of  genius.  They  are  constantly  breaking  away  from  the 
usual  consecutions  of  troncretes.  A  common  associator  by  contiguity  is  too 
closely  tied  to  routine  to  get  muddle-headed."  — James,  '  Psychology,'  II., 
p.  352. 


52  The  Philosophy  of  Style. 

objectively,  to  be  conveyed,  even  a  simpler  vehicle  would 
suflSce.  Swift,  in  one  of  the  most  humorous  passages  of 
*  Gulliver's  Travels '  describes  a  set  of  philosophers,  who,  dis- 
daining language  as  the  ordinary  means  of  expressing  their 
thoughts,  preferred  to  carry  with  them  a  pack  of  the  things 
most  commonly  referred  to  in  every  day  parlance,  by  the 
dexterous  manipulation  of  which  they  contrived  to  carry  on 
long  conversations.  JSTow  this  represents,  with  the  necessary 
freedom  of  caricature,  a  real  truth  with  regard  to  a  certain 
class  of  discourse.  In  any  written  composition,  the  less 
the  author's  personality  is  involved  in  the  matter  treated 
the  simpler  the  language  which  suffices.  The  extreme  form 
of  this  truth  is  found  in  the  case  of  algebra,  where  the 
discourse  is,  so  to  speak,  perfectly  dispassionate,  and  the 
symbolism  perfectly  adequate.  Similarly,  the  language  em- 
ployed in  mathematical  proof  is  found  adequate  in  propor- 
tion as  the  statements  are  purely  objective.  As  we  ascend 
in  the  scale  of  literary  composition  the  author's  personality 
creeps  in,  and  brings  with  it  a  corresponding  complexity  of 
language,  not  merely  the  complexity  of  structure  of  sen- 
tences, but  of  choice  of  words,  use  of  figures  of  speech,  and 
all  the  refinements  of  elaborate  writing.  It  is  true  that  much 
more  than  this  has  to  be  taken  into  consideration ;  the  sub- 
jects themselves  are  infinitely  more  complex  as  the  scale  is 
ascended,  the  distinctions  are  more  delicate,  the  contrasts 
present  more  sides  to  view,  the  gradations  are  subtler.  But 
is  not  this  a  corollary  from  the  main  principle  ?  Is  it  not 
because  we  are  then  dealing  either  with  facts  of  our  own  or 
the  general  consciousness ;  with  ideas,  emotions,  desires,  and 
so  forth ;  or  at  any  rate  with  external  facts  looked  at  from 
the  point  of  view  of  an  interested  and  questioning  observer, 
that  there  is  this  increase  in  complexity,  or,  in  other  words, 
decrease  in  adequacy  of  language? 

18.   But  this  idea  admits  of  yet  further  development.    The 
facts  perfectly  expressed  in  algebraical  symbols  receive  a 


Style.  53 

nearly  perfect  expression  in  mathematical  language.  The 
terminology  of  science  is  found  very  tolerably  sufficient,  if 
strictly  adhered  to,  and  mostly  where  expository  and 
descriptive.  In  history  and  biography  what  we  may  call 
the  subjective  element  is  strong,  and  there  we  find  all  the 
refinements  of  composition.  These  express,  not  only  facts 
and  aspects  of  facts,  not  only  are  there  delicate  implications 
of  expression,  embodied  in  all  the  recognized  figures  of 
rhetoric,  the  trope,  the  simile,  and  the  metaphor ;  but  there 
are  the  glimpses  at  the  very  self  of  the  author  which  lurks 
in  unconscious  tricks  of  diction  and  turns  of  thought, 
and  emerges  in  epithets,  in  repetitions,  and  in  phrases.  In 
poetry  the  author  reigns  supreme,  and  there  too  the  imper- 
fection of  language  is  most  manifest.  In  a  very  fine  pas- 
sage every  word  is  charged  with  meaning  and  riveted  to  its 
place,  in  fact  the  vehicle  is  strained  to  its  utmost  to  bear 
the  load  imposed  upon  it.  Hence  Coleridge's  well-known 
definition  *  of  poetry  as  "  the  best  words  in  the  best  order." 
Meanwhile  the  personality  of  the  Poet  pervades  every  line 
of  every  poem,  a  hardly  recognized  biit  unfailing  presence. 
He  colours  each  picture,  and  is  a  spectator  at  every  scene  ; 
he  is  beside  Ulysses  in  the  island  of  Calypso;  with  him 
he  witnesses  the  death  of  Argus  and  the  insolence  of 
the  suitors  ;  he  shares  the  recognition  of  Penelope  and  the 
welcome  to  home;  and  when  dire  retribution  seizes  the 
usurpers  he  looks  upon  their  fall. 

19.  Not  that  this  personality  is  directly  obtruded  upon 
the  hearer's  notice  ;  in  the  instance  of  Homer,  it  is  markedly 
withdrawn,  the  characters  speak  of  themselves,  the  descrip- 
tions are  meant  to  serve  no  moral  end.  But  what  is  never 
brought  before  us  as  an  avowed  element  in  the  composition 
is  everywhere  present  in  the  form  of  the  narrative,  —  we 

1  'Table  Talk,'  July  12,  1827.  "I  wish  our  clever  young  poets  would 
remember  my  homely  definitions  of  prose  and  poetry ;  that  is,  prose  =  words 
in  their  best  order;  poetry  =  the  bast  words  in  the  best  order." 


64  The  Philosophy  of  Style. 

never  hear  the  accents  of  the  voice,  thoiigh  we  are  always 
listening  to  its  tones.  Take  as  an  illustration  of  this  a 
passage  of  pure  description  from  the  'Odyssey'  ^:  — 

TTvp  [xep  in   ecr)(ap6^Lv  [xiya  Katero,  TyfKoOi  o'  ooprj 
KcSpov  T   eu/cearoto  9vov  t   di^a  vrjcrov  oSwSet 
haioixevoiv  •   rj  S'  evSou  dototaoucr   ottl  KaXrj, 
IcTTW  eTTOi^oixevq  -y^pvcreirj  KepKio    xx^aivev. 
vkr)  8e  aneo<;  d/x(^l  7T€(f)VKei  rrjXeOococra, 
KXtjOpr]  T   alyeip6<;  re  /cat  euajS?^?  KvirapLcrcro^. 
evOa  8e  r'  6ppi9e<;  TapvaiTrrepoL  evvdlpvTo, 
(jKO)TTe<;  T    ip-qKe-s  re  Tavvy\oicr(Toi  re  Kopcovat 
et^'dXtat,  rfjcrw  re  Oakdcra-ia  epya  piefxrjXev. 
7]  8'  avTov  reTavvcTTO  nepl  cnreLov?  yXa(f)vpoLO 
rifjiepls  r)/3a)(o<Ta,  reOrjkeL  Se  <jTa<^v\^ai- 
Kprjvai  8'  e^€t77?  m'crvpe?  piov  vhaTi  XevKO), 
TrXyjCLctt  dXXrjXoju  rerpa/x/xeVai  dXXv8t?  aXXr], 
djjLcfi  8e  Xetjawi^e?  ixaXaKol  lov  rj'^e  creXivov 
6-qXeov  •   evOa  k   eireiTa  /cat  dOdvaro^  irep  iireXOajv 
drjyjcraiTO  iScov  /cat  Tep(f)6eir)  (f)p€(TLi'  rjatv. 

Odyssey,  V.  59-74. 

1  "  And  on  the  hearth  there  was  a  great  fire  Imrning,  and  from  afar  was 
smelt  the  fragrance  of  cleft  cedar  and  of  sandal  wood,  hlazing  through  the 
isle.  And  the  nymph  within  was  singing  with  a  sweet  voice  as  she  fared 
to  and  fro  before  the  loom  and  wove  with  a  shuttle  of  gold.  And  round 
about  the  cave  there  was  a  wood  blossoming,  alder  and  poplar  and  sweet- 
smelling  cypress.  And  therein  all  birds,  long  of  wing,  had  their  places  of 
rest,  owls  and  falcons  and  chattering  sea-crows,  which  have  their  Ijusiness 
in  the  waters.  And  lo!  there  about  the  hollow  cave  trailed  a  gadding  gar- 
den vine,  all  rich  with  clusters.  And  the  wells  of  four  streams  set  orderly 
were  running  with  clear  water,  hard  l)y  one  another,  turned  each  to  a  sep- 
arate course.  Moreover,  all  around  soft  meadows  of  violets  and  parsley 
blossomed,  yea,  even  a  deathless  god  who  came  there  might  wonder  at  the 
sight  and  be  glad  at  heart."  —Butcher  and  Lang's  Translation. 


Style.  55 

20.  An  analysis  of  this  passage  which  points  out  its 
beauties  will  be  found  also  to  draw  attention  precisely  to 
those  parts  where  the  author's  presence  is  latent.  The 
smell  of  the  cedar  and  the  voice  of  the  divine  songstress 
accompanying  the  music  of  her  loom,  are,  by  the  epithets 
"  fragrant "  and  "  sweet "  made  part  of  the  real  or  imagined 
experience  of  the  poet ;  while  the  word  eVotxo/xe'vj/  suggests, 
and  just  suggests,  glimpses  that  he  catches  of  her  form  as 
she  moves  at  her  work  within  the  cave.  Then  he  describes 
the  wood  that  shades  her  abode,  implying,  by  an  epithet, 
how  that  too  appeals  to  another  sense,  joining  with  the 
incense  that  burns  close  by  in  a  mixture  of  pleasant  smells. 
Another  feature  is  introduced  :  there  are  birds  harbouring 
in  the  branches,  and  the  word  ewa^ovTo  that  describes  this, 
by  an  implied  comparison  with  the  sleeping-chambers  of 
man,  shows  a  sort  of  tender  way  of  looking  at  nature.  It 
is  more  than  if  it  were  merely  said,  "  there  were  birds  in 
the  branches."  Again,  the  allusion  to  the  sea  in  the  words 
Tyaiv  Tc  6aka.(T(TLa  ipya  fxeixrjXev  is  a  direct  reflection  of  the 
poet's,  in  no  way  forming  part  of  a  description  merely  meant 
to  call  up  an  actual  scene,  instead  of  a  particular  way  of 
looking  at  a  scene.  The  same  is  true  of  the  words  that 
describe  the  vine,  bending  with  its  burden  of  ripe  clusters, 
of  the  labyrinth  of  streams,  and  the  patches  of  violet  and 
parsley  round  them :  the  accompanying  adjectives  draw 
attention  to  beauties  the  poet  has  noticed,  and  wishes  us  to 
notice  as  well.  There  is  hardly  need  to  point  out  how  the 
words  with  which  the  whole  concludes  are  but  an  exclama- 
tion of  wonder  and  admiration  on  the  part  of  the  poet  at 
the  scene  he  has  called  up. 

21.  But  this  is  not  all,  for  besides  the  selection  of  these 
various  elements  there  is  the  mode  of  their  combination  into 
a  definite  picture,  the  order  in  which  the  images  follow  one 
another,  and  the  gradation  and  transition  of  ideas  which  are 
all  part  of  the  art,  that  is,  of  the  mind  —  of  the  self  of  the 


5G  The  PJulosophy  of  Style. 

author.  At  a  distance  the  senses  of  sight  and  smell  are  first 
caught  by  the  glimmer  of  the  fire  and  the  fragrance  of  what 
is  burning  in  it ;  as  Hermes  approaches  he  hears  the  sound 
of  the  goddess  singing  at  her  work ;  coming  still  closer,  he 
has  leisure  to  mark  the  minute  details  of  the  scene,  the 
cavern,  the  grove,  and  the  vine ;  while  the  words  d(9avaTds  nrep 
in  the  concluding  lines  leave  him  in  amazement  at  the  beauty 
of  the  whole. 

22.  Now  this  may  sound  like  hypercriticism,  and  it  would 
be  hypercriticism  if  it  were  meant  that  all  these  points  were 
before  the  mind  of  the  poet,  forming  part  of  an  intentional 
study  of  effect.  On  the  contrary,  the  implication  is  the 
direct  reverse.  It  is  because  Homer  was  such  or  such  a 
man,  because  he  had  been  in  the  habit  of  regarding  what  he 
saw  after  a  certain  fashion  of  his  own,  that  when  he  set 
himself  to  compose  poetry  he  composed  it  as  he  did.  Hence 
there  is  a  deep  meaning  in  the  saying  of  Milton,^  that  he 
who  would  write  good  poetry  must  make  his  life  a  poem. 
It  is  by  virtue  of  a  thousand  minute  traits  of  character,  the 
gradual  deposit  of  life's  experiences,  that  any  one  speaks, 
writes,  even  walks  and  moves,  as  we  see  him  do.  For  there 
must  be  some  reason  why,  if  two  men  set  about  describing 
a  scene,  or  giving  even  a  plain,  unvarnished  account  of  some 
event,  the  mode  of  their  narration  differs,  differs,  too,  in  such 
a  way  that  each  can  be  ascribed  to  its  author,  as  we  say,  by 
internal  evidence,  that  is,  by  its  style.  While,  then,  no  better 
explanation  appears,  that  theory  of  style  may  perhaps  be 
provisionally  accepted  which  identifies  it  with  character  — 
with  unconscious  revelations  of  the  hidden  self. 

23.  This  conclusion  needs  a  little  further  elaboration 
before  it  is  compared  with  that  view  of  what  is  called  the 

1  "  He  who  would  not  be  frustrate  of  his  hope  to  write  well  hereafter  in 
laudable  things,  ought  himself  to  be  a  true  poem,  that  is,  a  composition  and 
pattern  of  the  best  and  honorablest  things." — 'Apology  against  a  Pam- 
phlet called  A  Modest  Confutation,  etc' 


Style.  57 

philosophy  of  style,  which  resolves  all  the  devices  of  com- 
position into  schemes  for  economizing  the  reader's  attention. 
It  is  necessary  to  point  out,  and  this  may  be  done  briefly, 
how  not  only  is  style  generally  the  impress  of  the  author's 
self,  but  that  there  is  a  correspondence  between  the  dis- 
tinctive features  of  any  particular  passage  and  the  points  at 
which,  in  the  manner  just  indicated,  the  writer's  personality 
glides  into  the  discourse.  This  is  not  difficult,  if  what  has 
been  already  said  be  accepted.  What  indeed  is  meant  by 
saying  that  an  author  is  best  where  his  writing  is  most 
natural  ? 

24.  Is  it  not  implied  that  the  happiest  touches  are  those 
which  are  original  —  that  those  phrases  and  expressions  are 
most  welcome  to  the  reader  which  set  the  matter  they  convey 
in  a  new  light  —  and  that  the  light  in  which  the  writer 
himself  sees  it  ?  If  the  foregoing  passage  from  the  '  Odys- 
sey '  be  reviewed  it  will  be  found  that  its  beauties  are 
coincident  with  the  parts  where  the  presence  of  the  poet 
seems  to  be  hinted,  and  this  is  equally  true,  though  not 
equally  discernible,  in  all  writing  that  is  at  all  elaborate. 

25.  Now,  how  does  all  this  square  with  the  dictum  that 
"  to  have  a  specific  style  is  to  be  poor  in  speech  "  ?  It  will 
not  at  first  sight  appear  so  very  incompatible.  In  a  certain 
sense,  style  at  all  owes  its  existence  to  the  imperfection  of 
the  vehicle  of  thought.  Were  language  a  perfectly  adequate 
means  of  embodying  ideas,  what  is  now  to  be  looked  for  in 
the  mode  of  statement  would  be  found  directly  declared  in 
the  statement  itself.  For  the  countless  devices  of  language, 
the  gestures  and  tones  of  discourse,  the  thousand  rhetorical 
figures  of  written  composition,  are  really  one  and  all  simple 
propositions  not  capable  of  exact  expression  in  the  body  of 
the  narrative.  They  are  the  lights  and  shades  of  the  picture, 
or  perhaps  rather  the  finer  touches,  which  are  to  tickle  the 
imagination  of  the  reader  with  suggested  beauties.  And  it 
is  exactly  in  these  refinements  of  expression  i\:^^  the  deepest 


58  The  Philosophy  of  Style. 

meaning  of  any  author,  in  other  words,  his  self  resides. 
There  is  something  patlietic  in  the  reflection  that  we  walk 
this  world  half  hidden  from  one  another,  a  constant  struggle 
going  on  to  make  known  the  thoughts,  beliefs,  and  aspira- 
tions of  the  real  but  partly  imprisoned  being,  which  never 
can  be  known  exactly  as  they  are  to  any  but  the  mind  that 
conceives  them.^  Like  savages,  we  speak  mostly  by  signs, 
which  serve  us  well  enough,  but  leave  much  uncommunicated. 
It  is  well,  however,  that  this  imperfection  is  an  imperfection 
that  produces  beauty,  that  the  grating  of  the  machine  is  not 
harsh,  but  musical.  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer  is  successful  in 
showing  that  the  various  devices  of  language  do  serve  to  the 
economy  of  the  reader's  attention,  and  that  beauties  of  style 
are  beauties  partly  because  they  effect  this  end.  But  he  has 
not  raised  a  question  which  seems  closely  akin  to  the  subject. 
Why  is  it  needful  to  have  recourse  to  these  expedients  at 
all,  and  why  is  there  an  infinite  variety  in  every  man's  use 
of  them  ?  The  answer  to  these  questions  seems  to  give  an 
insight  into  a  higher  law,  to  which  Mr.  Spencer's  principle 
stands  rather  as  an  empirical  generalization.  It  is  this  :  — 
that  each  man's  inmost  nature  is  a  secret  to  all  but  himself  — 
and  that  a  secret  which  in  no  two  cases  is  the  same.     Every 

1  i'  The  cleai'ness  and  tact  demanded  by  the  French,  which  I  am  bound 
to  confess,  compel  one  to  say  only  part  of  what  one  thinks  and  are  damag- 
ing to  depth  of  thought,  seemed  to  me  so  much  tyranny.  The  French  care 
to  express  only  that  whicli  is  clear.  As  it  happens,  the  most  important 
truths,  those  relating  to  the  transformations  of  life,  are  not  clear;  one 
perceives  them  only  in  a  kind  of  half-light.  That  is  why,  after  having 
been  the  first  to  perceive  the  truth  of  what  is  called  Darwinism  nowadays, 
France  has  been  the  last  to  rally  to  it.  They  saw  it  well  enough,  but  it 
was  out  of  the  beaten  track  of  the  language,  it  did  not  fit  the  mould  of 
well-constructed  phrases.  In  that  way  France  passed  by  the  side  of  pre- 
cious truths,  not  without  seeing  them,  but  simply  flinging  them  among  the 
waste  paper  as  useless  or  impossible  to  express.  At  the  start  I  wanted  to 
say  everything,  and  I  often  said  it  badly.  At  the  risk  of  tumbling  into  the 
realm  of  the  unintelligible,  I  endeavored  to  fix  the  fleeting  essence,  hitherto 
considered  as  not  worthy  of  consideration." — Renan,  'The  Future  of 
Science,'  Preface. 


Style.  69 

attempt  to  communicate  it  partly  fails,  and  so  language  is 
full  of  compromises  and  expedients;  each  nature  to  be 
revealed  is  different,  and  so  there  is  a  countless  variety 
of  styles.  This  then  is  not  due  to  poverty  of  speech,  rather 
it  is  due  to  multiplicity  of  individualities,  each  speaking  its 
own  language  and  telling  its  own  tale. 

26.  The  ideal  style,  then,  is  but  for  an  ideal  being  who 
is  to  be  without  personality.  The  perfect  writer  may 
write,  now  like  Junius,  now  like  Lamb,  now  like  Carlyle, 
but  like  himself  he  can  never  write.  He  cannot,  as  we  say, 
express  himjself.  A  significant  phrase,  for  after  all  it  is 
when  a  man,  as  far  as  he  can,  expresses  himself,  that  his 
communication  is  most  worth  having.  It  is  the  one  thing 
of  which  he  certainly  knows  something,  where  he  can 
indeed  speak  with  authority.  It  is  not  so  much  what  a 
man  knows,  as  how  he  knows  it,  not  so  much  the  extent  as 
the  quality  of  his  information,  that  gains  him  a  right  to  be 
heard.  Originality  is  far  oftener  originality  of  expression 
than  idea,  a  fresh  aspect  of  something  old,  not  a  discovery 
of  something  new.  And  so  there  starts  up  here  an  answer 
to  the  difficulties  encountered  at  the  outset,  ''  Why  men 
are  influenced  by  language  at  least  as  much  as  by  ideas  "  : 
and  "Why  power  of  expression  is  intimately  associated 
with  mental  grasp  generally."  Partly,  no  doubt,  because  in 
language  resides  the  personality  of  the-  speaker  or  writer, 
and  men  are  influenced  by  personality  —  but  far  more  for 
another  reason.  The  highest  form  of  ability  is  something 
which  pervades  the  whole  being ;  it  is  not  restricted  to  an 
intellect  preternaturally  acute,  to  vividness  of  imagination,- 
or  fineness  of  feeling ;  but  it  is  the  manifestation  of  a  nature 
—  of  a  self,  which  is  really  great.  And  it  has  been  seen 
that  it  is  in  expression,  or  style,  that  the  self  of  the  author 
is  to  be  sought.  That,  then,  is  a  true  instinct  which  so 
intimately  associates  power  of  expression  with  power  of 
character  generally.     Of  this  power,  too,  the  distinguishing 


60  The  Pldlosophy  of  Style. 

feature  is  its  iudividuality.  Just  as  iii  animal  life  the 
ascent  of  the  scale  of  creation  is  a  process  of  differentiation 
of  functions ;  just  as  a  higher  form  of  life  is  marked  of£ 
from  a  lower  form  by  greater  speciality  of  shape,  by  powers 
more  accurately  defined,  by  habits  more  peculiarly  its  own ; 
so  in  the  comparison  of  man  with  man,  something  similar 
to  this  law  is  traceable,  pointing  out  that  the  superiority  of 
genius  in  degree  is  mainly  a  consequence  of  its  difference 
in  kind. 

27.  Thus  nature  seems  to  speak  in  a  continued  protest 
against  uniformity,  by  a  thousand  analogies  insisting  upon 
the  supreme  importance  of  the  individual.  And  the  critical 
verdict  which  pronounces  that  writing  best  which  is  the 
most  natural  can  be  affiliated  to  as  wide  a  law  as  this. 
Whether  or  no  it  be  thought  that  each  man  is  put  into  the 
world  the  possessor  of  some  particular  truth,  which  his 
acts  or  words  can  set  before  his  fellow-creatures,  it  is  at 
any  rate  clear  that  the  inevitable  specialty  of  each  man's 
experiences  must  present  things  to  him  in  an  aspect  which 
can  be  exactly  the  same  for  no  other.  There  are  no  real 
doubles  in  the  world,  no  such  thing  as  identity  in  constitu- 
tion and  circumstances.  While,  then,  this  is  so,  there  is  a 
significance  in  style,  a  value  in  the  unconscious  self-revela- 
tions of  traits  of  personality.  However  a  man  may  fail  of 
the  object  he  sets  before  him  in  what  he  does  or  says,  yet 
if  there  has  been  in  him  that  conscientious  fidelity  to  his 
purpose,  which  is  but  an  attempt  to  express  himself,  his 
work  will  not  have  been  wasted,  though  its  direct  worth  be 
unimportant. 


APPENDIX  A. 

THE   SOUND-ELEMENT   IN   VERSE. 

"  This  gratification  (i.e.  that  produced  by  the  mere  sound 
of  verse)  such  as  it  is,  is  of  an  entirely  positive  kind,  acting 
directly  on  the  sense.  It  would  not  have  occurred  to  me 
that  there  couLd  be  a  doubt  about  this,  had  not  Mr.  Spencer, 
in  his  essay  on  the  '  Philosophy  of  Style,'  taken  another  view. 
He  ingeniously  refers  forcible  style  to  economy  of  the  read- 
er's or  hearer's  attention,  and  makes  out  his  point  very  suc- 
3essfully  in  many  particulars ;  but  he  seems  to  me  quite  to 
fail  in  his  attempt  to  bring  the  effect  of  rhythmical  structure 
in  verse  under  the  same  rule.  He  says,  '  If,  as  we  have  seen, 
there  is  an  expenditure  of  mental  energy  in  the  mere  act  of 
listening  to  verbal  articulations,  or  in  that  silent  repetition 
Df  them  which  goes  on  in  reading  —  if  the  perceptive  fac- 
ulties must  be  in  active  exercise  to  identify  every  syllable 
—  then  any  mode  of  so  combining  words  as  to  present  a  regu- 
lar recurrence  of  certain  traits  which  the  mind  can  anticipate, 
kvill  diminish  that  strain  upon  the  attention  required  by  the 
:otal  irregularity  of  prose.  Just  as  the  body,  iu  receiving  a 
series  of  varying  concussions,  must  keep  the  muscles  ready 
;o  meet  the  most  violent  of  them,  as  not  knowing  when  such 
nay  come;  so  the  mind,  in  receiving  unarranged  articula- 
tions, must  keep  its  perceptives  active  enough  to  recognize 
;he  least  easily  caught  sounds.  And  as,  if  the  concussions 
•ecur  in  a  definite  order,  the  body  may  husband  its  forces 
jy  adjusting  the  resistance  needful  for  each  concussion;  so, 
f  the  syllables  be  rhythmically  arranged,  the  mind  may 
economize  its  energies  by  anticipating  the  attention  required 
"or  each  syllable.' 

61 


62  The  Philosopliy  uf  Stylt. 

"  There  is  surely  a  confusion  here  between  the  intellect 
and  the  ear,  and  between  two  distinct  meanings  of  perception, 
namely,  the  recognition  of  a  syllable  as  a  known  word  or 
part  of  a  known  word,  and  the  mere  hearing  of  it  as  part  of 
a  series  of  accented  and  unaccented  sounds.  The  'least 
easily  caught  sounds '  are  those  which,  from  softness  or 
indistinctness,  it  is  hardest  to  recognize  as  known  words 
or  parts  of  known  words ;  but  these  are  no  less  easily  and 
completely  heard  as  belonging  to  the  regular  series  of 
alternating  sounds  than  the  louder  accented  constituents 
of  the  series.  As  regards  the  mere  act  of  hearing,  the 
perception  of  the  series  is  an  affection  which  would  be  as 
easily  produced  by  nonsense-syllables  arranged  in  the  same 
rhythm :  and  as  for  attention,  not  less  but  more  of  it  would 
seem  to  be  involved  in  the  case  of  a  regular  accented  series 
than  in  prose.  For  against  the  supposition  that  the  ear  is 
relieved  at  alternate  instants  from  the  strain  of  its  expectant 
attitude,  through  foreknowledge  of  the  place  of  the  louder 
syllables,  we  must  set  the  fact  that  in  verse  it  is  actively  on 
the  watch,  and  notices  with  positive  satisfaction  the  rhyth- 
mical succession  as  such;  while  in  an  irregular  series  it  is 
not  the  least  on  the  watch  for  the  purely  sowwd-qualities  of 
what  is  going  on,  but  acts  as  the  uninterested  and  passive 
conductor  of  symbols  to  the  mind.  The  intellectual  recog- 
nition of  the  sounds,  on  the  other  hand,  as  known  words  or 
parts  of  known  words,  is  in  no  way  facilitated  by  their 
rhythmical  succession.  There  are  as  many  comparatively 
loud  and  distinct  syllables,  and  as  many  comparatively 
faint  and  indistinct  ones,  in  a  paragraph  of  prose  as  in 
an  equally  long  paragraph  of  verse :  and  the  sum  of  men- 
tal energy  required  to  identify  them  is  equal  in  the  two 
cases.  The  fact  that  in  the  verse  the  ear  is  aware  before- 
hand at  what  instant  the  louder  and  fainter  syllables  are 
coming  cannot  relieve  the  intellect  of  its  labour  of  recogni- 
tion; for  difficulty  or  ease  of  recognition  is  simply  a  func- 


Appendix  A.  63 

tion  of  the  distinctness  with  which  the  syllable  is  heard 
when  it  comes,  and  of  nothing  else. 

"  Mr.  Spencer's  analogy  of  muscular  adjustment  is  mis- 
leading. For  in  a  succession  of  jirecisely  similar  bodily 
impulses,  we  are  aware  of  exactly  what  is  coming,  and  so 
can  prepare  for  it  before  it  comes :  but  in  the  case  of  a 
mental  effort,  we  have  no  idea  what  it  is  to  be  till  the  mat- 
ter of  it  is  presented ;  and  the  recognition  of  every  syllable 
is  a  different  act  from  the  recognition  of  every  other,  and 
entails  different  tracts  of  association.  The  fairer  analogue 
would  be  a  portrait,  which  we  certainly  should  not  recog- 
nize any  the  more  easily  for  knowing  that  such  an  effort 
would  be  demanded  of  us  at  some  particular  moment.  In 
the  case  of  purely  physical  stimulation,  there  is  a  prepara- 
tion of  a  certain  amount  of  nervous  energy  against  a  particu- 
lar instant  when  the  repetition  of  the  stimulus  leads  to  its 
discharge  ;  and  if  the  stimulus  does  not  come  at  that  instant, 
the  closing  of  the  expected  outlet  for  the  discharge  gives  us 
annoyance.  But  an  act  of  recognition  is  a  mental  process 
which  begins  naturally  at  any  moment  on  the  presentation 
of  the  symbol  to  be  recognized :  and  whatever  its  objective 
nervous  counterpart  may  be,  it  certainly  cannot  be  amen- 
able to  regular  rhythmic  discharge."  —  Gurney,  'Power  of 
Sound,'  p.  441,  note. 

"  It  must  be  remembered  that  the  beauty  of  sound  in 
poetry  is  to  a  great  extent  indirect,  being  supplied  by  the 
passion  or  emotion  which  the  ideas  symbolized  by  the 
sounds  arouse.  The  beauty  of  poetical  sound  in  itself  is 
very  likely  less  than  often  supposed.  It  must  have  the 
capacity  for  receiving  passionate  expression  ;  but  that  is 
not  the  same  as  the  sensuous  beauty  of  a  note  or  a  coloux-. 
If  the  words  used  in  a  noble  poem  were  divested  of  all 
meaning,  they  would  lose  much,  though  not  all,  of  the  beauty 
of  their  sound." — B.  Bosanquet,  note  in  his  translation  of 
Hegel's  '  Introduction  to  Philosophy  of  Fine  Art,'  p.  172. 


APPENDIX  B. 

THE  EVOLUTION  OF  LITERATURE. 

"The  lowest  form  of  language  is  the  exclamation,  by 
which  an  entire  idea  is  vaguely  conveyed  through  a  single 
sound ;  as  among  the  lower  animals.  That  human  language 
ever  consisted  solely  of  exclamations,  and  so  was  strictly 
homogeneous  in  respect  of  its  parts  of  speech,  we  have  no 
evidence.  But  that  language  can  be  traced  down  to  a  form 
in  which  nouns  and  verbs  are  its  only  elements,  is  an  estab- 
lished fact.  In  the  gradual  multiplication  of  parts  of  speech 
out  of  these  primary  ones  —  in  the  differentiation  of  verbs 
into  active  and  passive,  of  nouns  into  abstract  and  concrete 
—  in  the  rise  of  distinctions  of  mood,  tense,  person,  of  num- 
ber and  case  —  in  the  formation  of  auxiliary  verbs,  of  ad- 
jectives, adverbs,  pronouns,  prepositions,  articles  —  in  the 
divergence  of  those  orders,  genera,  species,  and  varieties  of 
parts  of  speech  by  which  civilized  races  express  minute 
modifications  of  meaning  —  we  see  a  change  from  the  homo- 
geneous to  the  heterogeneous.  And  it  may  be  remarked, 
in  passing,  that  it  is  more  especially  in  virtue  of  having 
carried  this  subdivision  of  functions  to  a  greater  extent  and 
completeness,  that  the  English  language  is  superior  to  all 
others.  Another  aspect  under  which  we  may  trace  the 
development  of  language,  is  the  differentiation  of  words  of 
allied  meanings.  Philology  early  disclosed  the  truth  that 
in  all  languages  words  may  be  grouped  into  families  having 
a  common  ancestry.  An  aboriginal  name,  applied  indis- 
criminately to  each  of  an  extensive  and  ill-defined  class  of 
things  or  actions,  presently  undergoes  modifications  by 
64 


Appendix  B.  65 

which  the  chief  divisions  of  the  class  are  expressed.  These 
several  names  springing  from  the  primitive  root,  themselves 
become  the  parents  of  other  names  still  further  modified. 
And  by  the  aid  of  those  systematic  modes  which  presently 
arise,  of  making  derivatives  and  forming  compound  terms 
expressing  still  smaller  distinctions,  there  is  finally  devel- 
oped a  tribe  of  words  so  heterogeneous  in  sound  and  mean- 
ing, that  to  the  uninitiated  it  seems  incredible  they  should 
have  had  a  common  origin.  Meanwhile,  from  other  roots 
there  are  being  evolved  other  such  tribes,  until  there  results 
a  language  of  some  sixty  thousand  or  more  unlike  words, 
signifying  as  many  unlike  objects,  qualities,  acts.  Yet 
another  way  in  which  language  in  general  advances  from 
the  homogeneous  to  the  heterogeneous,  is  in  the  multipli- 
cation of  languages.  Whether,  as  Max  Miiller  and  Bunsen 
think,  all  languages  have  grown  from  one  stock,  or  whether, 
as  some  philologists  say,  they  have  grown  from  two  or  more 
stocks,  it  is  clear  that  since  large  families  of  languages, 
as  the  Indo-European,  are  of  one  parentage,  they  have 
become  distinct  through  a  process  of  continuous  divergence. 
The  same  diffusion  over  the  earth's  surface  which  has  led 
to  the  differentiation  of  the  race,  has  simultaneously  led  to 
a  differentiation  of  their  speech :  a  truth  which  we  see 
further  illustrated  in  each  nation  by  the  peculiarities  of 
dialect  found  in  separate  districts.  Thus  the  progress  of 
language  conforms  to  the  general  law,  alike  in  the  evolution 
of  languages,  in  the  evolution  of  families  of  words,  and  in 
the  evolution  of  parts  of  speech. 

"  On  passing  from  spoken  to  written  language,  we  come 
upon  several  classes  of  facts,  all  having  similar  implications. 
Written  language  is  connate  with  Painting  and  Sculpture  ; 
and  at  first  all  three  are  appendages  of  Architecture,  and 
have  a  direct  connection  with  the  primary  form  of  all 
government  —  the  theocratic.  Merely  noting  by  the  way 
the  fact  that  sundry  wild  races,  as  for  example  the  Austra- 


66  The  Philosopliy  of  Style. 

lians  and  the  tribos  of  South  Africa,  are  given  to  depicting 
personages  and  events  upon  the  walls  of  caves,  which  are 
probably  regarded  as  sacred  places,  let  us  pass  to  the  case 
of  the  Egyptians.  Among  them,  as  also  among  the  Assyr- 
ians, we  find  mural  paintings  used  to  decorate  the  temple 
of  the  god  and  the  palace  of  the  king  (which  were,  indeed, 
originally  identical)  ;  and  as  such  they  were  governmental 
appliances  in  the  same  sense  that  state-pageants  and  relig- 
ious feasts  were.  Further,  they  were  governmental  appli- 
ances in  virtue  of  representing  the  worship  of  the  god,  the 
trivimphs  of  the  god-king,  the  submission  of  his  subjects, 
and  the  punishment  of  the  rebellious.  And  yet  again  they 
were  governmental,  as  being  the  products  of  an  art  rever- 
enced by  the  people  as  a  sacred  mystery.  From  the 
habitual  use  of  this  pictorial  representation,  there  naturally 
grew  up  the  but  slightly-modified  practice  of  picture-writing 
— a  practice  which  was  found  still  extant  among  the  Mexi- 
cans at  the  time  they  were  discovered.  By  abbreviations 
analogous  to  those  still  going  on  in  our  own  written  and 
spoken  language,  the  most  familiar  of  these  pictured  figures 
were  successively  simplified;  and  ultimately  there  grew  up 
a  system  of  symbols,  most  of  which  had  but  a  distant 
resemblance  to  the  things  for  which  they  stood.  The 
inference  that  the  hieroglyphics  of  the  Egyptians  were 
thus  produced,  is  confirmed  by  the  fact  that  the  picture- 
writing  of  the  Mexicans  was  found  to  have  given  birth  to  a 
like  family  of  ideographic  forms ;  and  among  them,  as 
among  the  Egyptians,  these  had  been  partially  differentiated 
into  the  kuriological  or  imitative,  and  the  tropical  or  sym- 
bolic :  which  were,  however,  used  together  in  the  same  rec- 
ord. In  Egypt,  written  language  underwent  a  further  dif- 
ferentiation ;  whence  resulted  the  hieratic  and  the  epistolo- 
graphic  or  enchorial :  both  of  which  are  derived  from  the 
original  hieroglyphic.  At  the  same  time  we  find  that  for 
the  expression  of  proper  names,  which  could  not  be  other- 


Appendix  B.  67 

wise  conveyed,  phonetic  symbols  were  employed ;  and  though 
it  is  alleged  that  the  Egyptians  never  actually  achieved  com- 
plete alphabetic  writing,  yet  it  can  scarcely  be  doiibted  that 
these  phonetic  symbols  occasionally  used  in  aid  of  their 
ideographic  ones,  were  the  germs  out  of  which  alphabetic  writ- 
ing grew.  Once  having  become  separate  from  hieroglyphics, 
alphabetic  writing  itself  underwent  numerous  differentia- 
tions —  multiplied  alphabets  were  produced :  between  most 
of  which,  however,  more  or  less  connection  can  still  be 
traced.  And  in  each  civilized  nation  there  has  now  grown 
up  for  the  representation  of  one  set  of  sounds,  several 
sets  of  written  signs,  used  for  distinct  purposes.  Finally, 
through  a  yet  more  important  differentiation  came  printing; 
which,  uniform  in  kind  as  it  was  at  first,  has  since  become 
multiform. 

"  While  written  language  was  passing  through  its  earlier 
stages  of  development,  the  mural  decoration  which  formed 
its  root  was  being  differentiated  into  painting  and  sculpture. 
The  gods,  kings,  men,  and  animals  represented,  were  orig- 
inally marked  by  indented  outlines  and  coloured.  In  most 
cases  these  outlines  were  of  such  depth,  and  the  object  they 
circumscribed  so  far  rounded  and  marked  out  in  its  leading 
parts,  as  to  form  a  species  of  work  intermediate  between  in- 
taglio and  bas-relief.  In  other  cases  we  see  an  advance 
upon  this :  the  raised  places  between  the  figures  being  chis- 
elled off,  and  the  figures  themselves  appropriately  tinted,  a 
painted  bas-relief  was  produced.  The  restored  Assyrian 
architecture  at  Sydenham,  exhibits  this  style  of  art  carried 
to  greater  perfection  —  the  persons  and  things  represented, 
though  still  barbarously  coloured,  are  carved  out  with  more 
truth  and  in  greater  detail ;  and  in  the  winged  lions  and  bulls 
used  for  the  angles  of  gateways,  we  may  see  a  considerable 
advance  towards  a  completely  sculptured  figure ;  which, 
nevertheless,  is  still  coloured,  and  still  forms  part  of  the 
building.     But  while  in  Assyria  the  production  of  a  statue 


68  The  Philosophy  of  Style. 

proper,  seems  to  have  been  little,  if  at  all,  attempted,  we 
may  trace  in  Egyptian  art  the  gradual  separation  of  the 
sculptured  figure  from  the  wall.  A  walk  through  the  collec- 
tion in  the  British  Museum  will  clearly  show  this  ;  while  it 
will  at  the  same  time  afford  an  opportunity  of  observing  the 
evident  traces  which  the  independent  statues  bear  of  their 
derivation  from  bas-relief  :  seeing  that  nearly  all  of  them  not 
only  display  that  union  of  the  limbs  with  the  body  which  is 
the  characteristic  of  bas-relief,  but  have  the  back  of  the 
statue  united  from  head  to  foot  with  a  block  which  stands 
in  place  of  the  original  wall.  Greece  repeated  the  leading 
stages  of  this  progress.  As  in  Egypt  and  Assyria,  these 
twin  arts  were  at  first  united  with  each  other  and  with  their 
parent,  Architecture ;  and  were  the  aids  of  religion  and  gov- 
ernment. On  the  friezes  of  Greek  temples,  we  see  coloured 
bas-reliefs  representing  sacrifices,  battles,  processions,  games 
—  all  in  some  sort  religious.  On  the  pediments  we  see 
painted  sculptures  more  or  less  united  with  the  tympanum, 
and  having  for  subjects  the  triumphs  of  gods  or  heroes. 
Even  when  we  come  to  statues  that  are  definitely  separated 
from  the  buildings  to  which  they  pertain,  we  still  find  them 
coloured ;  and  only  in  the  later  periods  of  Greek  civiliza- 
tion, does  the  differentiation  of  sculpture  from  painting  ap- 
pear to  have  become  complete.  In  Christian  art  we  may 
clearly  trace  a  parallel  re-genesis.  All  early  paintings  and 
sculptures  throughout  Europe,  were  religious  in  subject  — 
represented  Christs,  crucifixions,  virgins,  holy  families,  apos- 
tles, saints.  They  formed  integral  parts  of  church  architec- 
ture, and  were  among  the  means  of  exciting  worship :  as  in 
Roman  Catholic  countries  they  still  are.  Moreover,  the 
early  sculptures  of  Christ  on  the  cross,  of  virgins,  of  saints, 
were  coloured  ;  and  it  needs  but  to  call  to  mind  the  painted 
madonnas  and  crucifixes  still  abundant  in  continental 
churches  and  highways,    to   perceive   the   significant   fact 


Appendix  B.  69 

that  painting  and  sculpture  continue  in  closest  connection 
with  each  other,  where  they  continue  in  closest  connection 
with  their  parent.  Even  when  Christian  sculpture  was 
pretty  clearly  differentiated  from  painting,  it  was  still  re- 
ligious and  governmental  in  its  subjects  —  was  used  for 
tombs  in  churches  and  statues  of  kings ;  while,  at  the  same 
time,  painting,  where  not  purely  ecclesiastical,  was  applied 
to  the  dedoration  of  palaces,  and  besides  representing  royal 
personages,  was  almost  wholly  devoted  to  sacred  legends. 
Only  in  quite  recent  times  have  painting  and  sculpture  be- 
come entirely  secular  arts.  Only  within  these  few  centu- 
ries has  painting  been  divided  into  historical,  landscape, 
marine,  architectural,  genre,  animal,  still-life,  &c.,  and  sculp- 
•ture  grown  heterogeneous  in  respect  of  the  variety  of  real  and 
ideal  subjects  with  which  it  occupies  itself. 

"  Strange  as  it  seems  then,  we  find  it  no  less  true,  that 
all  forms  of  written  language,  of  painting,  and  of  sculpture, 
have  a  common  root  in  the  politico- religious  decorations  of 
ancient  temples  and  palaces.  Little  resemblance  as  they  now 
have,  the  bust  that  stands  on  the  console,  the  landscape 
that  hangs  against  the  wall,  and  the  copy  of  the  Tmes  lying 
upon  the  table,  are  remotely  akin ;  not  only  in  nature,  but 
by  extraction.  The  brazen  face  of  the  knocker  which  the 
postman  has  just  lifted,  is  related  not  only  to  the  wood- 
cuts of  the  Illustrated  London  News  which  he  is  delivering, 
but  to  the  characters  of  the  billet-doux  which  accompanies 
it.  Between  the  painted  window,  the  prayer-book  on  which 
its  light  falls,  and  the  adjacent  monument,  there  is  consan- 
guinity. The  effigies  on  our  coins,  the  signs  over  shops, 
the  figures  that  fill  every  ledger,  the  coat  of  arms  outside 
the  carriage-panel,  and  the  placards  inside  the  omnibus,  are, 
in  common  with  dolls,  blue-books  and  paper-hangings,  lin- 
eally descended  from  the  rude  sculpture-paintings  in  which 
the  Egyptians  represented  the  triumphs  and  worship  of  their 


70  The  Philosojjhy  of  Style. 

god-kings.  Perhaps  no  example  can  be  given  which  more 
vividly  illustrates  the  multiplicity  and  heterogeneity  of  the 
products  that  in  course  of  time  may  arise  by  successive 
differentiations  from  a  common  stock."  Spencer,  'First 
Principles/  pp.  162-7. 


INDEX. 


[The  Sgures  refer  to  the  pages  of  the  text.] 


Abstract  Terms,  7,  8. 
Adjustment,  Muscular,  34,  63. 
Allegory,  26.    ^ 
Allen,  35,  38. 
Anticlimax,  38-39. 
Antithesis,  39-40. 
Art,  42,  65-69. 
Association,  5,  31. 

Bain,  33  note. 
Beauty,  46. 
Blair,  2. 
Bombast,  28. 
Bradley,  21  note. 
Brevity,  5,  6. . 

Campbell,  7,  8  note. 
Cattell,  .'«  note. 
Ciceronianism,  45. 
Climax,  38-40. 
Coleridge,  53  and  note. 
Composition,  Laws  of,  1. 
Contrast,  40  and  note. 
Concrete  terms,  7,  8. 
Concept,  9  note. 

Delabarre,  40  note. 
Dewey,  9  note. 
Direct  style,  18-21. 

Earle,  21  note. 

Economy,  Principle  of,  stated,  3. 

Egger,  11  note. 

Ellis,  34  note. 


Euphony,  35. 

Exhaustion,  Mental,  36-38. 
Expression,  Imperfect,  49;   Theory 
of,  2. 

Figures,  21-28. 

French  language,  58  note. 

Goethe,  2  note. 

Gummere,  2  note. 
Guruey,  33  note. 

Hegel,  2  note. 
Hill,  A.  S.,  3  note. 
Homer,  53-56. 

Images,   5,   8,  9  note,   10,   11  and 

note. 
Individuality  of  expression,  50,  60. 
Indirect  style,  18-21. 
Interjections,  4.     - 

James,  9  note,  11  note,  51  note. 

Eaimes,  Lord,  2,  14. 

Language  a  Hindrance  to  Thought, 

3,4. 
Literature,  Evolution  of,  64-70. 

Mathematical  Language,  53. 
Metaphor,  2.5-27;  Compound,  26. 
Metre,  33-35. 
Milton,  56  and  note. 

71 


72 


Index. 


Miiller,  ]\Iax,  21  note. 
Music,  32-33  and  note. 

Order  of  Noun  and  Adjective,  10- 
12;  of  Verb  and  Adverl),  12;  of 
Subject  and  Predicate,  i;i-14;  of 
Predicate  and  Complements,  14- 
15 ;  of  Principal  and  Subordinate 
Propositions,  15-1(5. 

Originality,  51,  59. 

Personality  of  the  Poet,  53, 56, 
Poet,  The,  56  and  note. 
Poetry,  30-35,  53  and  note. 
Prose,  53  and  note ;  Rhythm  of,  34 
note. 

Benan,  58  note. 
Repair,  Mental,  36-38. 
Rhyme,  35. 
Rhythm,  9  note,  33-35. 

Saintsbury,  34  note. 
Saxon  English,  5-7. 


Schiller,  2  note. 
Schlegel,  2  note. 
Schopenhauer,  2  note. 
Sentences,  9-21. 
Sequence  of  words,  9-21. 
Simile,  22-24. 
Specific  terms,  7-8. 
Speech-tunes,  32,  33  and  note. 
Stevenson,  34  note. 
Strieker,  33  note. 
Styles,  Origin  of,  43. 
Suggestion,  28-30. 
Synecdoche,  22. 

Variety,  40-42. 

Verse,  Sound-element  in,  61-63. 

Vischer,  2  note. 

Wallaschek,  33  note. 

Watts,  51  note. 

Weil,  9  note. 

Whately,  20,  25. 

Words,  Long,  6 ;  Order  of,  9. 

Writer,  The  Ideal,  42^4. 


ADVERTISEMENTS 


ENGLISH 


The  New  Composition-Rhetoric 

By  F.  N.  Scott,  Professor  of  Rhetoric  in  the  University  of  Michigan, 
and  J.  V.  Dennev,  Professor  of  English  in  Ohio  State  University. 
i2mo,  cloth,  480  pages.     Price,  ;^i.20. 

THIS  book  embodies  the  best  features  of  former  editions  of  the 
Composition-Rhetoric  and  the  Composition-Literature.  It 
is  intended  for  the  higher  classes  in  acadeinies  and  high  schools, 
and  is  especially  suited  to  follow  the  authors'  Elementary  Eng- 
lish Composition.  ~ 

Throughout  the  work  the  aim  is  to  keep  the  student's  powers 
of  construction  and  criticism  in  proper  adjustment.  The  simple, 
fundamental  principles  that  underlie  both  composition  and  the 
appreciation  of  literature  are  discovered  inductively  by  the  study 
of  numerous  selections,  and  are  at  once  applied  in  the  student's 
practice.    The  book  gives  particular  emphasis  to  oral  composition. 

The  chapters  are:  I.  Units  of  Composition.  II.  How  Com- 
positions Grow.  III.  Paragraphs.  IV.  Sentences.  V.  Words. 
VI.  The  Forms  of  Prose  Discourse.  VII.  Description.  VIII. 
Narration.  IX.  Exposition.  X.  Argumentation.  XI.  Poetry. 
XII.  Figures  of  Speech.  Appendices:  A.  Directions  for  Writ- 
ten Work.  B.  Capitals  and  Punctuation.  C.  Common  Faults 
with  Marks  used  in  Correcting  Them. 

The  topics  suggested  for  themes  cover  a  wide  range  of  interests. 
They  are  drawn  not  only  from  literature,  but  from  student  life 
and,  in  particular,  from  the  vocations  toward  which  certain  classes 
of  students  are  naturally  tending.  Composition  is  regarded  as  a 
social  act,  and  the  student  is  therefore  constantly  led  to  think  of 
himself  as  writing  or  speaking  for  a  specified  group  of  readers  or 
hearers. 

The  aim  and  method  of  the  book  are  easily  stated,  but  the 
qualities  which  make  it  different  from  others  —  its  strong  and 
abundant  vitality,  its  wealth  of  inspiration,  its  unfailing  stiinulus 
to  the  pupil  —  are  not  so  readily  described;  they  will  be  thor- 
oughly understood  by  teachers  who  are  familiar  with  any  of  the 
work  of  the  authors. 

2 


ENGLISH 


Composition-Literature 


By  Professors  F.  N.  ScOTT,  of  the  University  of  Michigan,  and  J.  V. 
Denney,  of  Ohio  Slate  University,   izmo,  cloth,  397  pages.  Price,  $1.00. 

COMPOSITION-LITERATURE  is  intended  to  establish  a 
close  relation  between  the  practice  of  English  composition 
and  the  appreciation  of  literature.  There  are  certain  simple  fun- 
damental principles  that  underlie  both  composition  and  apprecia- 
tion, and  it  is  through  these  that  the  book  seeks  to  accomplish  its 
object,  applying  them  first  to  construction,  then  to  criticism. 

The  opening  chapter  presents  the  requisites  of  good  writing. 
Subsequent  chapters  treat  forms  of  literature  in  prose  and  poetry, 
and  the  criticism  of  discourse.  The  book  contains  abundant 
material  for  illustration  and  analysis,  and  a  large  number  of  in- 
teresting exercises  for  the  pupil  to  work  upon,  supplemented  by 
twenty-two  attractive  pictures. 

Composition-Rhetoric 

By  Professors  F.  N.  ScoTT,  of  the  University  of  Michigan,  and  J.  V. 
Denney,  of  Ohio  State  University.   i2mo,  cloth,  416  pages.   Price,  $1.00. 

IN  this  manual  for  advanced  work  in  secondary  schools  a  com- 
plete scheme  of  composition  is  devised  with  the  paragraph  as 
a  unit.     The  chapters  are  as  follows  :  — 

I.    External  Form  of  the  Paragraph.    II.    Paragraph-Structure. 

III.  What  to  Say,  —  describing  a  large  number  of  methods  by  which 
the  paragraph  grows  out  of  the  topic-sentence. 

IV.  How  to  Say  It,  —  describing  the  uses  of  the  various  kinds  of 
sentences,  with  the  consideration  of  Figures  of  Speech. 

V.  In  What  Order  to  Say  It,  —  containing  a  treatment  of  Antithe- 
sis, Qimax,  the  Logical  Order,  the  Time  Order,  the  Space  Order,  and 
the  Sentence  Order  for  Clearness  and  Emphasis. 

VI.  How  Much  to  Say, —on  Scale  of  Treatment,  Proportion  of 
Parts,  Subordination  of  Parts,  Expansion,  and  Condensation. 

VII.   What  Not  to  Say,  —  treating  Digressions  and  Incoherence. 
Appendices :    Directions  for  Preparing  Manuscript,  Marks  used  in 
Correcting,    Material    for   Analysis   and    Reproduction,    Subjects   for 
Essays,  Punctuation,  Figures  of  Speech,  and  Versitication. 

3 


ENGLISH 


Paragraph- Writing 

By  F.  N.  Scott,  Professor  of  Rhetoric  in  the  University  of  Michigan, 
and  J.  V.  Denney,  Professor  of  EngHsh  in  Ohio  State  University. 
Revised  edition.     i2mo,  cloth,  480  pages.     Price,  ^1.25. 

FOR  this  new  edition  the  book  has  been  entirely  rewritten  and 
much  enlarged.  The  fiindamental  idea  of  the  book  is,  as 
before,  to  treat  the  paragraph  as  the  unit  of  composition ;  in 
adapting  the  work,  however,  to  the  present  needs  of  college  and 
university  classes  many  modifications  in  general  plan  and  in 
detail  have  been  made.  Among  these  changes  may  be  men- 
tioned the  following  :  — 

The  book  has  been  enlarged  so  as  to  include  the  various  types 
of  composition  —  that  is,  Description,  Narration,  Exposition,  and 
Argument.  These  are  treated  at  length  and  with  a  thoroughness 
corresponding  to  their  present  importance  in  college  work. 

The  exercises  for  individual  work  have  been  removed  from  the 
text  and  placed  in  a  division  by  themselves.  This  arrangement 
lends  continuity  to  the  text  and  at  the  same  time  gives  space  for 
a  greatly  extended  series  of  progressive  exercises  offering  a  wide 
choice  to  instructor  and  student. 

The  illustrative  matter  of  the  preceding  edition,  through  long 
use  somewhat  familiar  to  both  teacher  and  student,  has  been 
replaced  by  fresh  and  worthy  material  from  a  great  variety  of 
sources.     In  ainount  this  material  has  been  more  than  doubled. 


American  Literature  with  Readings 

By  Roy  Bennett  Pace,  Assistant  Professor  of  Enghsh  in  Swarthmore 
College,  Swarthmore,  Pennsylvania.     i2mo,  cloth,  671  pages.     Price, 

THIS  book  is  the  author's  American  Literature  and  Readings 
in  American  Literature  bound  together  in  one  volume. 
With  it  in  the  hands  of  the  pupil,  teachers  are  able  to  carry  out, 
at  no  great  expense,  the  author's  plan  of  studying  the  various 
writers  with  their  works  in  accessible  form. 

4 


ENGLISH 


American  Literature 

By  Professor  RoY  Bennett  Pace,  of  Swarthmore  College,  Swarth- 
more,  Pennsylvania.     i2mo,  cloth,  289  pages.     Price  ^i.oo. 

THIS  book  is  the  outcome  of  personal  experience  with  the 
problem  of  teaching  literature  to  young  people. 

No  writer  is  treated  unless  the  student  may  reasonably  be  ex- 
pected to  read  some  of  his  work.  The  author  avoids  the  long 
list  of  names  and  dates  common  to  manuals  of  literature. 

No  effort  has  been  made  to  treat  very  recent  writers.  It  is  felt 
that  judgment  cannot  yet  be  passed  on  their  work  and  that  the 
pupil  will  already  have  become  familiar  with  many  of  them 
through  thennagazines. 

The  author  nowhere  sacrifices  simplicity  in  an  effort  at  literary 
effect.  Too  often  in  text-books  in  literature,  a  good  chapter  is 
spoiled  by  a  few  flights  of  fancy  or  a  clever  analogy  quite  beyond 
the  student's  observation  and  experience. 

Southern  literature  is  given  more  space  than  is  usual  in  man- 
uals of  this  sort. 

No  pains  have  been  spared  to  equip  the  book  with  useful  and 
practical  illustrations.  Homes  and  haunts  of  authors,  manu- 
scripts and  title-pages,  portraits  and  monuments,  are  the  subjects 
of  attractive  pictures. 

Readings  in  American  Literature 

By  Professor  Roy  Bennett  Pace,  of  Swarthmore  College,  Swarth- 
more, Pennsylvania.     i2mo,  cloth,  373  pages.     Price,  $1.00. 

ALTHOUGH  this  book  is  intended  as  a   companion  to  the 
author's  own  American  Literature,  it  will  be  found  useful  in 
connection  with  any  of  the  other  text-books  in  the  subject. 

The  best-known  authors  in  American  literature  are  represented, 
and  an  effort  has  been  made  to  give  some  of  the  best  and  most 
distinctive  work  of  each. 

A  feature  of  the  Readings  is  the  prominence  given  to  early 
American  writers.  This  literature  is  quaint  and  interesting  and 
at  the  same  time  affords  an  excellent  model  of  good  English. 

5 


ENGLISH 


From  Milton  to  Tennyson 

Masterpieces  of  English  Poetry.  Edited  by  L.  Du  PoNT  Syle,  late 
Associate  Professor  of  English  Literature  in  the  University  of  Cahfornia. 
i2mo,  cloth,  480  pages.     Price,  ^i.oo. 

IN  this  work  the  editor  has  endeavored  to  bring  together  within 
the  ccmpass  of  a  moderate-sized  volume  as  much  narrative, 
descriptive,  and  lyric  verse  as  a  student  may  reasonably  be  re- 
quired to  read  critically  for  entrance  to  college.  From  the  nine- 
teen poets  represented,  only  such  masterpieces  have  been  selected 
as  are  within  the  range  of  the  understanding  and  the  sympathy  of 
the  high  school  student.  Each  masterpiece  is  given  complete, 
except  for  pedagogical  reasons  in  the  cases  of  Thomson,  Cowper, 
Byron,  and  Browning.  Exigencies  of  space  have  compelled  the 
editor  reluctantly  to  omit  Scott  from  this  volume.  The  copy- 
right laws,  of  course,  exclude  American  poets  from  the  scope  of 
this  work. 

The  following  poets  are  represented  :  — 

Milton     .     .     .     L' Allegro,  II  Penseroso,  Lycidas,  and  a  Selection  from  the  Sonnets, 

Drvden    .     .     .     Epistle  to  Congreve,  Alexander's  Feast,  Character  of  a  Good  Parson. 

Pope    ....     Epistles  to  Mr,  Jervas,  to  Lord  Burlington,  and  to  Augustus. 

Thomson      ,     .     Winter. 

Johnson  .     .     .    Vanity  of  Human  Wishes. 

Gray    ....     Elegy  Written  in  a  Country  Churchyard,  and  The  Bard. 

Goldsmith   .     .     Deserted  Village. 

CowPER    .     .     .     Winter  Morning  Walk. 

Burns  ....     Cotter's  Saturday  Night,  Tam  O'Shanter,  and  a  Selection  from  the 

Songs. 
Coleridge    .     .    Ancient  Mariner. 
Byron  ....     Isles  of  Greece,  and  Selections  from  Childe  Harold,  Manfred,  and 

the  Hebrew  Melodies. 
Keats  ....    Eve  of  St.  Agnes,  Ode  to  a  Nightingale,  Sonnet  on  Chapman's 

Homer. 
Shelley  .  Euganean  Hills,  The  Cloud,  The  Skylark,  and  the  Two  Sonnets 

on  the  Nile. 
Wordsworth    .     Laodamia,  The  Highland  Girl,  Tintern  Abbey,  The  Cuckoo,  The 

Ode  to  a  Skylark,  The  Milton  Sonnet,  The  Ode  to  Duty,  and  the 

Ode  on  the  Intimations  of  Immortality. 
Macaulay     .     ,     Horatius. 
Clough     .     .     .     Two  Ships,  the  Prologue  to  the  Mari  Magno,  and  the  Lawyer's 

First  Tale. 
Arnold     .     .     .     The  Scholar-Gypsy  and  The  Forsaken  Merman. 
Browning     ,    .     Transcript  from  Euripides  (Balaustion's  Adventure). 
Tennyson     .     .     CEnone,  Morte  D'Arthur,  The  Miller's  Daughter,  and  a  Selection 

from  the  Songs. 

6 


ENGLISH 


Orations  and  Arguments 

Edited  by  C.  B.  Bradley,  Professor  of  Rhetoric  in  the  University  of 
California.     i2mo, -cloth,  385  pages.     Price,  ^i.oo. 

The  following  speeches  are  contained  in  the  book :  — 

Rurke:  Webster: 

On  ConciHation  with  the  Col-  The  Reply  to  Hayne. 
onies,    and    Speech    before    the       Macaulay 

Flectors  at  Bristol.  On  the  Reform  Bill  of  1832. 

Chatham  :  Calhoun • 

On  American  Affairs.  On  the  Slavery  Question. 

Erskine:  Seward: 

In  the  Stockdale  Case.  On  the  Irrepressible  Conflict. 
Lincoln : 

The  Ge1!tysburg  Address. 

IN  making  this  selection,  the  test  applied  to  each  speech  was 
that  it  should  be  in  itself  memorable,  attaining  its  distinction 
through  the  essential  qualities  of  nobility  and  force  of  ideas,  and 
that  it  should  be,  in  topic,  so  related  to  the  great  thoughts, 
memories,  or  problems  of  our  own  time  as  to  have  for  us  still  an 
inherent  and  vital  interest. 

The  Notes  aim  to  furnish  the  reader  with  whatever  help  is 
necessary  to  the  proper  appreciation  of  the  speeches ;  to  avoid 
bewildering  him  with  mere  subtleties  and  display  of  erudition  ; 
and  to  encourage  in  him  habits  of  self-help  and  familiarity  with 
sources  of  information. 

Note-taking 

By  S.  S.  Seward,  Jr.,  Assistant  Professor  of  English  in  the  Leland 
Stanford  Junior  University.  i2mo,  flexible  cloth,  91  pages.  Price, 
50  cents. 

THIS  book  is  the  result  of  a  number  of  years'  experience  in 
training  students  to  take  notes  intelligently  and  systemati- 
cally, and  has  been  written  with  the  conviction  that  a  better 
standard  of  note-taking  will  add  much  to  the  effectiveness  of  the 
students'  work. 

It  contains  chapters  on  The  Aim  in  Note-taking,  How  to  Con- 
dense Notes,  How  to  Organize  Notes,  Special  Problems  in  Note- 
taking,  together  with  exercises  for  practice  and  many  examples. 

7 


ENGLISH 


Public  Speaking:    A  Treatise  on  Delivery  with  Se- 
lections for  Declaiming 

By  Edwin  D.  ShurTER,  Associate  Professor  of  Oratory  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Texas.     i2mo,  cloth,  265  pages.     Price,  90  cents. 

THIS  book  treats  chiefly  of  persuasive  speaking,  and  the  au- 
thor lays  stress  on  the  fact  that  mental  qualities,  such  as 
clearness,  sitnplicity,  vivacity,  spontaneity,  and  sincerity,  are  of 
chief  value  in  declamation.  Although  this  principle  is  counted 
fundamental,  the  book  has  all  the  necessary  rules  and  principles 
for  the  technique  of  public  speaking,  with  exercises  for  perfecting 
the  voice  and  for  overcoming  defects  of  speech.  Gesture  is  treated 
in  a  very  happy  way,  as  the  physical  expression  of  earnestness. 
The  chapters  are  :  — 


I. 

The   Nature 

and 

Basis 

of 

VII. 

Time :  Phrasing,  Transition 

Public  Speaking. 

VIII. 

Force,  Climax,  Volume. 

II. 

The  Voice. 

IX. 

Tone-Color. 

III. 

Pronunciation 

and 

Enuncia- 

X. 

Earnestness. 

tion. 

XI. 

Physical  Earnestness  — 

IV. 

Key. 

Gesture. 

V. 

Emphasis. 

XII. 

General  Suggestions. 

VI. 

Inflection. 

XIII. 

Selections  for  Practice. 

The  Selections  for  Practice  include  speeches  from  Lincoln, 
Roosevelt,  Blaine,  Grady,  John  Hay,  Woodrow  Wilson,  Wendell 
Phillips,  Henry  Watterson,  and  many  others. 

A  Drill  Book  in  English 

Compiled  by  GEORGE   E.  Gay,  Haverhill,  Mass.      i2mo,  cloth,  108 
pages.     Price,  45  cents. 

THIS  manual  will  appeal  only  to  teachers  who  believe  that  there 
is  value  in  presenting  to  the  pupils  specimens  of  bad  English 
for  correction.  It  contains  in  brief  form  rules  for  spelling,  punc- 
tuation, capitalization,  and  the  most  important  principles  of  gram- 
mar and  rhetoric.     Abundant  exercises  for  practice  are  given. 

8 


ENGLISH 


The  Drama:    Its  Law  and  its  Technique 

By  Elisabeth  Woodbridge,  Ph.D.    i2mo,  cloth,  198  pages.    Price, 
80  cents. 

THE  object  of  this  book  is  to  present  a  manual  for  use  in 
college  courses  on  the  drama,  which  shall  stand  the  test  of 
actual  classroom  use.  It  is  successful  in  avoiding  the  principal 
defects  of  previous  short  treatises  on  the  subject,  which  have 
been  made  up  too  completely  of  theories  on  the  art,  or  have 
occupied  themselves  too  exclusively  with  practical  stage-craft. 
The  chapters  are :  — 

Law  Technique 

I.    Poetic  Truth.  I.  The  Two  Types  of  Drama. 

II.   Dramatic  Unity.  II.   The  Logical  Divisions  of  the 

III.  Seriousness,  SIIOTAH.  Action. 

IV.  The  Nature  and  Sources  of  III.   The  Mechanical  Division  of 

Tragic  Effect.  the  Drama. 

V,  The  Nature  and  Sources  of      IV-VI.    Character-Treatment  and 
Comic  Effect.  Plot  in  Comedy. 

Its'  broader  foundations  are  laid  in  Freytag's  Technik  des 
Dramas,  but  it  follows  Freytag's  footsteps  only  where  it  is  un- 
avoidable to  any  one  venturing  on  the  ground  at  all.  The  discus- 
sion itself  is  an  original  treatment  on  lines  adapted  to  give  the 
student  a  real  knowledge  and  a  permanent  appreciation  of  the 
structure  of  the  drama. 

Selections  from  Carlyle 

Edited  by  H.  W.  BOYNTON.     i2mo,  cloth,  288  pages.     Price,  75  cents. 

THIS  volume  includes  material  for  the  elementary  study  of 
Carlyle  in  his  earliest  and  most  fruitful  period.  It  contains 
the  Essays  on  Burns,  on  History,  on  Boswell's  Life  of  Johnson, 
and  selections  from  Heroes  and  Hero-Worship  (the  Introduction ; 
the  Hero  as  Poet —  Dante,  Shakespeare  ;  and  the  Hero  as  Man 
of  Letters  —  Johnson,  Rousseau,  Burns). 

9 


ENGLISH 


A  Text-Book  for  the  Study  of  Poetry 

By  Rev.  F.  M.  Connell,  S.J.,  of  the  Novitiate  of  St.  Andrew-on- 
Hudson,  Poughkecpsie,  N.Y.     i2mo,  cloth,  223  pages.     Price,  ^1.00. 

THE  purpose  of  this  book  is  to  set  forth  the  fundamental 
principles  of  criticism  from  which  can  be  formed  an  estimate 
of  acknowledged  poetry.     It  is  for  use  in  advanced  classes. 

The  book  is  divided  into  three  parts.  The  first  is  devoted  to 
the  Nature  of  Poetry,  and  treats  of  Emotion,  Imagination, 
Thought,  and  Expression.  The  second  part,  under  Species  of 
Poetry,  takes  up  the  Narrative,  Dramatic,  and  Lyric  Poetry. 
Part  three  is  on  Versification,  and  contains  one  chapter  on  Metre, 
and  one  on  Verse  and  Melody.  At  the  end  of  the  volume  are 
added  Topics  for  the  Study  of  Lyric  Poems,  Practical  Lessons  on 
Poetic  Diction,  and  Suggestions  for  Verse-Writing. 

Principles  of  Success  in  Literature 

By  George  Henry  Lewes.    Edited  with  Introduction  and  Notes  by 
Professor  Fred  N.  Scott.     i2mo,  cloth,  163  pages.     Price,  50  cents. 

THE  object  of  reprinting  this  admirable  little  treatise  on  litera- 
ture is  to  make  it  available  for  classes  in  rhetoric  and  literary 
criticism.  Scarcely  any  other  work  will  be  found  so  thoroughly 
sound  in  principles,  and  so  suggestive  and  inspiring. 

The  value  of  the  present  edition  is  greatly  increased  by  the 
excellent  introduction  by  Professor  Scott,  and  by  a  full  index. 

Spencer's  Philosophy  of  Style  and  Wright's  Essay 
on  Style 

Edited  by  Fred  N.  Scott,  Professor  of  Rhetoric  in  the  University  of 
Michigan.     i2mo,  cloth,  92  pages.     Price,  45  cents. 

THE  plan  has  been  followed  of  providing  a  biographical  and 
critical  introduction,  an  index,  and  a  few  notes.  In  the 
belief  that  the*  Philosophy  of  Style  c^n  best  be  understood  in 
connection  with  the  Spencerian  philosophy  as  a  whole,  the  Intro- 
duction has  been  made  largely  bibliographical. 

10 


ENGLISH 


An  Old  English  Grammar  and  Exercise  Book 

By  C.  Alphonso  Smith,  Ph.D.,  Professor  of  English  in  the  University 
of  Virginia.  With  Inflections,  Syntax,  Selections  for  Reading,  and 
Glossary.     i2mo,  cloth,  201  pages.     Price,  ^i.oo. 

THIS  book  is  designed  to  meet  the  needs  of  those  teachers 
who  wish  a  brief  and  simplified  text-book  in  Anglo-Saxon. 
It  will  enable  the  student  to  read  any  of  the  dialects  of  the  Old 
English  period,  and  will  also  serve  as  a  foundation  for  the  study 
of  Modern  English,  of  historical  English  grammar,  and  of  the 
principles  of  English  etymology.  Emphasis  is  constantly  put 
upon  Modern  English  equivalents,  the  student  being  thus  led  at 
every  step  to  compare  the  words,  inflections,  and  syntax  of  Old 
English  with  those  of  Modern  English. 

The  book  begins  with  a  brief  History  of  the  Language,  followed 
by  Sounds,  Inflections,  and  Syntax.  The  exercises  will  furnish 
all  the  drill  necessary  to  enable  the  student  to  retain  the  forms 
and  constructions  given  in  the  various  chapters. 

The  Selections  for  Reading  which  follow  the  grammar  contain 
The  Battle  of  Ashdown  from  the  Chronicle ;  A  Prayer  of  King 
Alfred ;  The  Voyages  of  Ohthere  and  Wulfstan ;  The  Story  of 
Casdmon ;  Alfred's  Preface  to  the  Pastoral  Care. 

There  is  a  chapter  on  Anglo-Saxon  Poetry,  followed  by  extracts 
from  Beowulf  and  The  Wanderer. 

This  is  the  best  book  of  its  kind. 

Introduction  to  Theme-Writing 

By  J.  R.  Fletcher,  of  Harvard  University,  and  the  late  Professor 
George  R.  Carpenter.     i6mo,  cloth,  143  pages.     Price,  60  cents. 

THIS  is  a  text-book  for  students  who  have  completed  the 
introductory  course  in  rhetoric  usually  prescribed  at  the 
beginning  of  the  freshman  year.  It  is  founded  on  lectures  de- 
livered by  Mr.  Fletcher  at  Harvard  in  1893.  The  chapters  are 
on  Letter-Writing,  Description,  Narration,  Criticism,  Exposition, 
and  Argument. 

11 


ENGLISH 


Practical  High  School  Speller 

By  Tobias  O.  Chew,  Superintendent  of  City  Schools,  Washburn, 
Wisconsin.     i2mo,  cloth,  102  pages.     Price,  40  cents. 

THIS  book  contains  the  words  most  often  misspelled  by  higli 
school  pupils  —  a  list  of  two  thousand,  determined  by  corre- 
spondence with  ten  thousand  teachers  in  representative  secondary 
schools  in  every  state  in  the  United  States.  The  first  word  in 
Lesson  I  was  sent  in  by  seven  hundred  high  school  teachers  ;  the 
other  words  show  by  their  order  the  frequency  with  which  they 
were  suggested  by  teachers.  The  book,  then,  is  built  on  the 
judgment  of  those  best  qualified  to  know  —  the  teachers  them- 
selves. 

A  most  useful  feature  of  the  Speller  is  the  arrangement  of  the 
words  so  as  to  make  it  easy  for  the  pupils  to  learn  to  spell  them. 
Each  lesson  has  twenty-five  words,  printed  in  script  in  a  neat 
column,  so  that  the  pupil  readily  visualizes  them.  Often  Spellers 
contain  a  large  amount  of  interesting  information  about  a  word, 
but  the  word  itself  appears  either  divided  into  syllables  or  so 
placed  on  the  page  that  the  pupil  gets  no  adequate  picture  of 
how  it  looks,  either  written  or  printed. 

Beside  the  words  in  script,  the  Speller  has  them  in  print,  divided 
into  syllables,  with  the  accents,  and  followed  by  brief  phrases 
which  illustrate  their  proper  use.  A  few  practical  rules  for  spell- 
ing are  included.  ,^ 

The  Literature  Note-Book 

By  Professor  F.  N.  ScOTT,  of  the  University  of  Michigan,  and  F.  E. 
Bryant,  of  the  University  of  Kansas.  Price,  each,  6  cents;  per 
dozen,  60  cents;  per  hundred,  ^5.00. 

THIS  is  a  blank-book  for  book  reviews  and  reports  on  home 
reading.  On  the  front  cover  are  seventeen  numbered  ques- 
tions, each  suggesting  a  possible  treatment  for  the  book  review. 
The  teacher  indicates  a  question,  or  series  of  questions,  by  num- 
ber, and  the  pupil  understands  that  his  review  is  to  answer  these 
questions.  There  are  directions  for  both  teacher  and  pupil.  On 
the  back  cover  is  a  list  of  books  for  home  reading. 

15 


The  Academy  Classics 


THE  Academy  Classics  are  now  issued  in  pocket  size  and 
are  bound  in  new  and  attractive  covers.  The  httle 
volumes  will  be  an  ornament  to  any  library.  Nearly  every 
volume  has  a  half-tone  portrait  of  the  author,  and  many  are 
illustrated  from  original  drawings.  The  prices  will  be  found 
very  reasonable  when  the  excellent  quality  of  print,  paper, 
and  binding  is  considered. 

Each  volume  is  provided  with  introductory  matter,  ade- 
quate notes,  and  other  helps.  These  are  always  the  work 
of  a  teacher  of  reputation,  whose  name  is  a  guarantee  of 
sound  and  judicious  annotation. 

The  following  books  are  now  ready  :  — 

ADDISON.    De  Coverley  Papers 

Edited  by  SAMUEL  Thurber.     Price,  35  cents. 

This  volume  contains  thirty-seven  papers  of  which  twenty  have 
Sir   Roger  as   the  main  theme,  and  seventeen  mention  him  in 
such  a  way  as  to  throw  further  hght  on  his  character. 
The  book  contains  a  portrait  of  Addison. 

Select  Essays 

Edited  by  Samuel  Thurber.     Price,  60  cents. 

The  editor  has  aimed  to  bring  together  such  papers  from  the 
Spectator,  the  Tatler,  the  Guardian,  and  the  Freeholder  as  will 
prove  most  readable  to  youth  of  high  school  age.  There  are 
seventy  selections  in  all,  including  the  De  Coverley  Papers  and 
selections  from  Addison's  Stories  and  his  Hymns.  The  book 
contains  also  Macaulay's  Essay  on  Addison  and  a  portrait  of 
Addison. 

ARNOLD.    Essays  in  Criticism 

Edited  by  SUSAN  S.  Sheridan.    Price,  25  cents. 

The  essays  are  those  on  the  Study  of  Poetry,  on  Keats,  and  on 
Wordsworth. 

Rugby  Chapel 

Edited  by  L.  D.  Syle.     (In  Four  English  Poems.     Price,  25  cents.) 

Sohrab  and  Rustum 

Edited   by   G.   A.   WaTROUS.     (In    Three  Narrative  Poems.     Price, 
30  cents.) 

1 


The  Academy  Classics 


BLACKMORE.    Lorna  Doone 

Edited  by  R.  ADELAIDE  WlTHAM.     Price,  65  cents. 

This  edition  is  printed  on  bible  paper  and  is  uniform  with  Ivanhoe. 
The  editor  has  made  a  visit  to  the  Doone  country,  and  this  gives 
special  interest  to  her  notes  and  comments. 

BURKE.    Conciliation  with  the  Colonies 

Edited  by  C.  B.  Bradley.     Price,  30  cents. 

This   book   contains  the  complete  speech,  and  a  sketch   of  the 
English  Constitution  and  Government. 
The  frontispiece  is  a  portrait  of  Burke. 

BURNS.    Selections 

Edited  by  Lois  G.  Hufford.     Price,  35  cents. 

The  selections  are  forty-five  in  number  and  include  The  Cotter's 
Saturday  Night,  Tarn  O'Shanter,  The  Vision,  The  Brigs  of  Ayr, 
and  all  the  more  familiar  short  poems  and  songs. 
The  book  contains  a  portrait  of  Burns. 

BYRON.    The  Prisoner  of  Chillon 

Edited  by  L.  D.  Syle.     (In  Four  English  Poems.    Price,  25  cents.) 

CARLYLE.    Essay  on  Burns 

Edited  by  H.  W.  BOYNTON.    Price,  25  cents. 

In  addition  to  the  Essay  on  Burns,  this  edition  contains  The 
Vision  and  The  Cotter's  Saturday  Night.  It  thus  meets  the 
College  Entrance  Requirements  for  the  Essay  on  Burns  and  a 
selection  from  Burns's  poems.  The  volume  has  a  portrait  of 
Carlyle. 

Selections 

Edited  by  H.  W.  BOYNTON.     Price,  60  cents. 

This  volume  includes  material  for  the  elementary  study  of  Carlyle 
in  his  earliest  and  most  fruitful  period.  It  contains  the  Essays 
on  Burns,  on  History,  on  Boswell's  Life  of  Johnson,  and  selec- 
tions from  Heroes  and  Hero-Worship  (the  Introduction;  the 
Hero  as  Poet — Dante,  Shakespeare;  and  the  Hero  as  Man  of 
Letters  —  Johnson,  Rousseau,  Burns). 

COLERIDGE.    The  Ancient  Mariner 

Edited  by   G.   A.  Watrous.     (In    Three  Narrative  Poems.     Price, 

30  cents.) 

COWPER.    John  Gilpin's  Ride 

Edited  by  L.  D.  SvLE.     (In  Four  English  Poems.     Price,  25  cents.) 

2 


The  Academy  Classics 


GEORGE  ELIOT.    Silas  Marner 

Edited  by  W.  Patterson  Atkinson.    Price,  30  cents. 

The  introduction  contains  a  brief  life  of  George  Eliot,  an  account 
of  the  writing  of  Silas  Marner,  and  a  short  list  of  works  on  the 
author.    There  is  a  portrait  of  the  author. 

EMERSON.    Select  Essays  and  Poems 

Edited  by  EVA  March  Tappan.    Price,  30  cents. 

The  Essays  are  those  on  Compensation,  Self-reliance,  and 
l^anners.  There  are  also  nine  of  the  best-known  poems.  A 
feature  of  the  book  is  the  suggestive  questions  at  the  bottom  of 
each  page  which  keep  the  pupil's  attention  on  the  alert  and  at 
the  same  time  aid  in  the  interpretation  of  the  text. 
This-edition  has  a  portrait  of  Emerson. 

GOLDSMITH.     The  Vicar  of  Wakefield 

Edited  by  R.  Adelaide  Witham.    Price,  40  cents. 

Tlie  introduction  to  the  work  contains  a  Bibliography  of  the  Life 
of  Goldsmith,  a  Bibliogiaphy  of  Criticism,  a  Life  of  Goldsmith  ar- 
ranged by  topics,  a  liable  of  Masterpieces  published  during  his 
life,  and  an  appreciation  of  Goldsmith's  style. 
There  is  a  portrait  of  the  author. 

The  Traveller  and  the  Deserted  Village 
Edited  by  G.  A.  Watrous.      (In  Selected  Poems.     Price,  30  cents.) 

GRAY.     Elegy  Written   in  a  Country  Churchyard  and  The  Progress 
of  Poesy. 
Edited  by  G.  A.  Watrous.    (In  Selected  Poems.     Price,  30  cents.) 

IRVmG.     Life  of  Goldsmith 

Edited  by  R.  Adelaide  Witham.    Price,  40  cents. 

The  editor  has  furnished  a  Life  of  Irving  arranged  by  topics,  with 
references  to  Pierre  Irving's  life  of  his  uncle.  There  is  also  an 
arrangement  of  the  text  by  topics,  for  convenience  in  assigning 
the  reading.  The  book  has  a  useful  list  of  the  works  of  Irving 
side  by  side  with  contemporary  American  Literature.  The  frontis- 
piece is  a  portrait  of  Irving. 

The  Sketch-Book 

Edited  by  ELMER  E.  Wentworth.     Price  60  cents. 

This  is  the  most  attractive  edition  of  the  complete  Sketch-Book 
published  at  a  reasonable  price.  Print,  paper,  and  binding  are  ex- 
cellent.   The  book  contains  a  portrait  of  Irving. 

3 


The  Academy  Classics 


IRVING.     Selections  from  The  Sketch-Book 

Edited  by  ELMER  E.  Wentworth.    Price,  35  cents. 

This  edition  contains  Irving's  original  Preface  and  Advertise- 
ment, The  Author's  Account  of  Himself,  The  Voyage,  The  Wife, 
Rip  Van  Winkle,  Sunday  in  London,  The  Art  of  Bookmaking, 
The  Country  Church,  The  Mutability  of  Literature,  The  Spectre 
Bridegroom,  Westminster  Abbey,  Christmas,  The  Stage  Coach, 
Christmas  Eve,  Christmas  Day,  Stratford-on-Avon,  To  my  Books, 
The  Legend  of  Sleepy  Hollow. 

These  selections  furnish  the  pupil  with  over  two  hundred  pages 
of  reading  from  the  Sketch-Book. 

LOWELL.    The  Vision  of  Sir  Launfal  and  Other  Poems 

Edited  by  Dr.  F.  R.  Lane.    Price,  25  cents. 

Besides  the  Vision  of  Sir  Launfal  there  are  thirteen  poems,  includ- 
ing such  passages  from  the  Fable  for  Critics  as  refer  to  prominent 
American  men  of  letters.  The  selections  are  Summer  Storm, 
Allegra,  The  Rose,  Rhcecus,  To  a  Pine  Tree,  To  the  Past,  The 
Oak,  The  Birch  Tree,  To  the  Dandelion,  On  a  Portrait  of  Dante 
by  Giotto,  A  Fable  for  Critics.  What  Mr.  Robinson  thinks,  The 
Coiurtin'.    The  book  contains  a  portrait  of  Lowell. 

MACAULAY.    Select  Essays 

Edited  by  SAMUEL  Thurber.     Price,  50  cents. 

This  selection  comprises  the  essays  on  Milton,  Bunyan,  Johnson, 
Goldsmith,  and  Madame  D'Arblay,  thus  giving  illustrations  both  of 
Macaulay's  earlier  and  of  his  later  style.  The  subjects  of  the  essays 
are  such  as  to  bring  them  into  close  relation  with  the  study  of 
English  Literature.  A  portrait  of  Macaulay  is  included. 
Historical  Essays 

Edited  by  Samuel  Thurber.    Price,  60  cents. 

This  selection  includes  the  essays  on  Lord  Clive,  Warren  Hastings, 
and  both  the  essays  on  the  Earl  of  Chatham.  The  text  in  each 
case  is  given  entire.  A  map  of  India,  giving  the  location  of  places 
named  in  the  essays,  is  included  and  there  is  also  a  portrait  of 
Macaulay. 

MACAULAY.    Edited  by  Samuel  Thurber 
Essay  on  Addison  Essay  on  Johnson 

Essay  on  Lord  Clive  Essay  on  Milton 

Price,  each  25  cents. 

Essays  on  Milton  and  Addison  Essay  on  Chatham 

One  volume.     Price,  35  cents.  Price,  20  cents. 

4 


The  Academy  Classics 


MACAULAY.    Essay  on  Warren  Hastings 

Edited  by  JOSEPH  V.  Denney.    Price,  40  cents. 

This  edition  will  be  found  especially  useful  to  pupils  in  composition 
who  are  studying  Macaulay  for  structure.  The  essay  affords  con- 
spicuously excellent  illustrations  of  all  four  forms  of  discourse, — 
narration,  description,  exposition,  and  argumentation.  The  book 
has  a  sketch  of  Macaulay's  life,  a  bibliography,  and  also  a  map  of 
India  and  a  portrait  of  Macaulay. 

MILTON.    Minor  Poems 

Edited  by  Samuel  Thurber.    Price,  30  cents. 

L'AUegro;  II  Penseroso ;  Comus;  Lycidas;  Arcades;  On  the 
Nativity;  On  Shakespeare;  At  a  Solemn  Music;  Sonnets.  The 
edition  has  an  introduction,  notes,  and  a  portrait  of  Milton. 

Paradise  Lost,  Books  I  and  II 

Edited  by  HENRY  W.  BOYNTON.     Price  30  cents. 

This  edition  has  the  first  two  books  of  Paradise  Lost  complete  and 
a  resume  of  the  rest  of  the  epic,  with  quotations  of  notable  passages. 
The  introduction  has  two  plans  and  a  description  of  the  Milton ic 
universe.  The  frontispiece  of  this  edition  is  a  reproduction  of 
Munkacsy's  painting  of  the  bUnd  Milton  dictating  Paradise  Lost  to 
his  daughters. 

POPE.    The  Rape  of  the  Lock 

Edited  by  L.  D.  Syle.     (In  Four  English  Poems.     Price,  25  cents.) 

An  Essay  on  Criticism 

Edited  by  GEORGE  A.  Watrous.    (In  Selected  Poems.    Price,  30  cents.) 

SCOTT.    Ivanhoe 

Edited  by  A.  MARION  MERRILL.    Price,  65  cents. 

This  edition  is  unusually  complete  both  in  introductory  matter  and 
in  notes.  It  is  printed  on  bible  paper  to  make  it  uniform  in  size 
with  the  other  volumes  of  .the  Academy  Classics.  The  book  is 
illustrated  from  original  drawings. 

The  Lady  of  the  Lake 
Edited  by  G.  B.  AlTON.     Price,  30  cents. 

In  addition  to  the  introduction  and  notes,  this  edition  contains  a 
map  of  the  Trosachs  and  vicinity  and  a  portrait  of  Scott. 

Marmion 

Edited  by  MARY  E.  ADAMS.     Price,  30  cents. 

This  edition  contains  an  introduction,  notes,  a  glossary,  a  map  of 
the  Marmion  country,  and  a  portrait  of  Scott. 

6 


The  Academy  Classics 


SHAKESPEARE.    Merchant  of  Venice.     New  Edition. 
Edited  by  Samuel  Thukber,  Jr.     Price,  45  cents. 

The  new  edition  is  illustrated  by  handsome  half-tones,  showing 
the  principal  characters  and  incidents.  The  book  contains  the 
following  features  which  will  aid  and  interest  the  young  pupil :  — 
very  full  notes;  an  account  of  Shakespeare  the  man  —  his  life,  and 
a  description  of  the  theatre  for  which  he  wrote ;  glimpses  of  life  in 
Shakespeare's  time  as  shown  by  the  play;  a  study  of  the  structural 
elements  of  the  comedy;  a  discussion  of  the  sources  and  histori- 
cal setting;  a  list  of  familiar  quotations;  and  a  list  of  topics  for 
written  compositions. 

Julius  Caesar.    New  Edition.     At  Press. 
Macbeth.     New  Edition.    At  Press. 

The  new  editions  of  Julius  Caesar  and  Macbeth  have  the  same 

features  as  the  Merchant  of  Venice. 

SHAKESPEARE.    Edited  by  Samuel  Thurber. 
As  You  Like  It  Julius  Caesar  Macbeth  The  Tempest 

Price,  each  30  cents. 

Hamlet  (with  Pearson's  Questions  on  Hamlet) 
Price,  35  cents. 

These  editions  contain  introductory  matter  and  notes.  The  text 
is  that  of  the  Globe  edition,  and  omissions  have  been  made  only 
where  necessary  for  classroom  use. 

STEVENSON.    Treasure  Island 

Edited  by  W.  D.  LEWIS.     Price,  45  cents. 

This   edition   has  a  short  introduction  and  a  life  of  Stevenson. 
Very  few  notes  are  provided.     A   complete  glossary  explains  all 
the  unusual  terms  used  in  the  story. 
The  book  contains  illustrations  from  original  drawings  and  a  map. 

TENNYSON.    Enoch  Arden 

Edited  by  G.  A.   Watrous.    (In    Three  Narrative  Poems.     Price, 

30  cents.) 

Idylls  of  the  King 

Edited  by  H.  W.  BOYNTON.     Price,  30  cents. 

This  edition  contains  The  Coming  of  Arthur,  Gareth  and  Lynette, 
Lancelot  and  Elaine,  The  Holy  Grail,  The  Passing  of  Arthur. 
Thus  it  has  all  the  Selections  of  the  College  Entrance  Requirements 
both  for  reading  and  for  study.    There  is  a  portrait  of  the  author. 

6 


The  Academy  Classics 


WEBSTER.    Reply  to  Hayne 

Edited  by  C.  B.  BRADLEY.    Price,  25  cents. 

This  edition  contains  a  brief  life  of  Webster  and  an  account  of  the 
circumstances  under  which  the  speech  was  delivered.  There  is  a 
portrait  of  Webster. 


Four  English  Poems 

Edited  by  L.  D.  Syle.     Price,  25  cents. 

The  Rape  of  the  Lock,  John  Gilpin's  Ride,  The  Prisoner  of 
Chillon,  and  Rugby  Chapel.  This  edition  has  an  introduction, 
notes,  and  a  portrait  of  Lord  Byron. 

Selected  Poems  from  Pope,  Gray,  and  Goldsmith 

Edited  by  George  A.  Watrous.     Price,  30  cents. 

The  poems  included  are  Pope's  Essay  on  Criticism,  Gtslv's  Elegy 
and  Progress  of  Poesy,  and  Goldsmith's  Traveller  and  Deserted 
Village.  The  book  has  an  introduction,  notes,  and  a  portrait  of 
Pope. 

Three  Narrative  Poems 

Edited  by  George  A.  Watrous.     Price,  30  cents. 

This  volume  contains  The  Ancient  Mariner,  Sohrab  and  Rustum, 
and  Enoch  Arden.  A  map  makes  plain  the  geography  of  Sohrab 
and  Rustum. 

Two  of  the  selections  in  this  book  —  The  Ancient  Mariner  and 
Sohrab  and  Rustum  —  appear  in  the  College  Entrance  Require- 
ments in  English.    There  is  a  portrait  of  Coleridge. 

The  Short-Story 

Edited  by  W.  PATTERSON  Atkinson.    Price,  60  cents. 

The  selections  are  Washington  Irving's  Rip  Van  Winkle,  Edgar 
Allan  Poe's  The  Gold  Bug  and  The  Purloined  Letter,  Nathaniel 
Hawthorne's  Howe's  Masquerade  and  The  Birthmark,  Francis 
Bret  Harte's  The  Outcasts  of  Poker  Flat,  Robert  Louis  Stevenson's 
The  Sire  de  Maletroit's  Door  and  Markheim,  Rudyard  Kipling's 
Wee  Willie  Winkie. 

In  addition  to  the  well-chosen  selection  of  stories,  the  book  contains 
a  practical  Introduction,  setting  forth  the  development  of  the  short- 
story  in  its  various  forms.  There  is  also  a  study  of  the  short-story 
as  an  example  of  narrative  writing,  which  makes  the  book  of 
practical  use  to  classes  in  English  composition.  Helpful  notes  on 
each  of  the  stories  are  included.  The  Short-Story  is  illustrated 
with  portraits  of  the  authors  represented. 

7 


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